00 

m 


o 

>- 


IvlBRA^RY 

OF   THK 

University  of  California. 

Glf^T  OK 


Received         c/^. 
Accession  No 


.yd'6-y^   f  Class  No.      Cfli/.l'i 


Xli.2, 


i 


't 


X 


;3 
:3 


m% 


XJ4E5P' 


•     •••••• 


^".feri«  Wbere  Are  W<^  at? 


•  BY. 


1^ 

I 

B 
B 


ED^\^^Iir>    IRVING, 

Attthor  of  "In  the  Far  West,"  Etc. 


DEDICATED  TO  THE  TOII^ERS  OP  THE  WORI,D,    |^ 
BY  A  FEI/LOW  SLAVE. 


o   #•   •••  ••  • 

"  T/iere  is  trouble  ahead;  Revolution.  I  pray  God  it  may  be 
peaceful  Revolution,  atid  at  the  ballot-box'' — Rev.  T.  De  Witt 
Talma ge  in  his  ''Pathway  of  Life!' 


In  Pamper  Covcrj,  25  C^nts.  Boupcl  in  Cloth?  75  C^nts.      |:^ 


STOCKTON.    CAL.  : 

THE   T.    W.    HOMMEL   CO.    PRINT. 

1894. 

Copyrighted  1894,  by  Edward  Irving.     All  rights  reserved. 


ImiiUMlUiUinUiiH^^^^^ 


7  6'6'y  ^ 


c 


RAISON  D'ETRE, 


**"We  have  borrowed  money  upon  our  lands  and  vine< 
yards  for  the  king's  tribute. 

I  "  Yet  now  our  flesh  is  as  the  flesh  of  our  brethren,  our; 
'children  as  their  children,  and  lo,  we  bring  into  bondage 
.our  sons  and  our  daughters  to  be  slaves,  and  some  of  ouii 
;daughters  are  brought  into  bondage  already;  neither  is  it[ 
Jin  our  power  to  help  it;  for  other  men  have  our  fields  tm^^ 
^ur  vineyards/ '—Nehemiall  V,  4-5« 


PREFACE. 


Those  wlio  wisli  to  sow  that  strangers  may  reap,  wll^ 
/have  no  use  for  this  little  book. 

Those  whose  highest  ambition  is  to  toil  in  slavery^anflS 
idle  in  a  ditch  had  better  let  it  alone. 

Those  who  wish  to  reap  what  others  have  sown  shoaldl 
try  to  prevent  others  from  reading  it. 

It  is  written  for  those  who  desire  to  better  their  condir^ 
tion  and  assist  their  fellows  to  do  the  same. 

:bdwari)  IRVING^  :^ 

Farmington,  California,  May,  i894# 


CONTENTS 


OHAPTEE  I. 
Progress  and  Poverty, 

INTRODUCTION.—"  WHERE  ARE  WE  AT?  "—A  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO.— OBJECTS  0» 
IHE   FOUNDERS. — SLAVERY    OP    THE     BLACKS. — FIFTY     YEARS     AGO. — CONTRAST     WITHl 

EUROPE. CAUSE     OP     CONTRAST. THE   REBELLION. — ABOLITION  OP    SLAVERY.— AFTEE^ 

FIFTY  YEARS. — WEALTH   RELATIVELY   GREATER. — ONE   SIDE  OF  THE -SHIELD. — ^WHAT  IS.' 
PBOSPiiRli  Y  ? — THE  OTHER  SIDE  OP  THE  SHIELD. 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Cause  of  the  Trouble,     Class  Legislation, 

A  GAME  OF  CHANCE. — A  LOSING  GAME. — WHAT  IS  THE  CAUSE? — LOADED  DICE.—' 

**BEVEN   FINANCIAL    CONSPIRACIES." — SUMMARY    OP    THE    BOOK.— THE    CIVIL    WAR. — I 

I 
I.      THE  EXCEPTION  CLAUSE. — U,      NATIONAL  BANKS. — III.     CONTRACTION, — IV.     CBEDM 

I8TRENGTHENING    ACT. — V.        REFUNDING    ACT, — VI.        DEMONETIZATION     Off     6ILYEB.— 

Til.      BJfiBUMPTION  ACT. — THE  BLAKD  ACT. — THE  SHERMAN  ACT, 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Eighth  Financial  Conspiracy. 

EEPUBLICAN  PLATFORM. — DEMOCRATIC  PLATFORM. — ^DEMOCRATIC  VICTWRY. — THE^ 
PANIC. — A  CORNER  ON  GOLD. — CLEVELAND'S  MESSAGE. — REPEAL  ASKED. — THE  FIGHTl 
IN  CONGRESS. — SHERMAN  A  FALSE  PROPHET. — SHERMAN  ACT  REPEALED. — FALL  OB^' 
jpBICEH. — SHERMAN  A  TRUE  PBOPHST. — CARLISLE'S  CONDEMNATION, 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Some  More  Conspiracigs. 

A  BBOKEN  PROMISE. — THE  TARIFF  FIGHT. — FALSE  PROPHETS. — THE  TRUE  CAUSBJ 

,— PRICES    CANNOT    RECOVER — A   MONEY   FAMINE. — CAUSE    AND    EFFECT. — R.   G.    DUN^flj 

^BEPOBT. — "  WANT  OF  CONFIDENCE." — GREENBACKS  VS.  BONDS. — THE  NINTH  FINANCIAL' 

CONSPIRACY. — THE  SEIGNIORAGE  BILL  VETOED. — COXEY's  ARMY. — JOHN  BROWN'S  BODY.! 

■WANT     OF     MONEY. — PAPER    MONEY. — WOODEN     MONEY. — THE    DAY    COMETH. — XBJ^^ 

INETY  AND  NINE, — ^A  FABLE. — THE  INTERPRETATION  THEREOF. 


ICO 


CHAPTER  V. 
Political  Corruption, 

MONOPOLIES. —  BOTH  PARTIES  CORRUPT. —  MAMMON  IS  GOD. —  GULMNQ  THE 
^KOPLE.— REPUBLICAN  DESPOTS. — THE  BAILROAD  MONOPOLY. — THE  TRUSTS. — ^FOMBBiG|§ 
^WWEBSHLP  OF  LANi>, — •*  AitM  MOBTGAQES. — ^A  HAPPY  (  I  )  COUNTRY. — XHiiS  CHUBCS* 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  People's  Party, 

*  ITS    ORIGIN.— LYING    NEWS.— "  THE    POPULIST    DECLINE.*— LAST    NOVEMBER'^ 

iBAESrS.— TROUBLE  AHEAD.— DEMO-BEP»BLICAN  PLATFORMS.— THE  POPULIST  PLATFOBa« 
t-r^QUMATlVE  AND   BEFBRENDUM.— IMPJSBAIWB  JIANDATE.— FOOB  BSSBKTIAI^Sp^^ 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Populist  Platform  Discussed, 

I        FINANCE. — FIRST      PLANK,     NATIONAL     CURREN(3Y. — SECOND     PLANK,     PKEl 

rNAGK  — SII.VKR    AND    WHEAT. — THIRD    PLANK,  $50   PER    CAPITA. — FOURTH   PLANK, 

JKArn'ATKD     rmOME    TAX. — ONE    INCOME,    $960    AN    HOUR. — ANOTHER    INCOME,    FOUB 

■KNIJS  AiN  auUK. — i'll-TU    PLANK,   ECONOMY. — SIXTH   PLANK,  POSTAL  8AVINGS  BANKS, 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

populist  Platform  (Continued),     — 

rr.     TnANapoRTATioN. — in.     land. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

A  World  in  Di-ttress, 

TTTF    PAME    CAUSE. — "LOOKING     BACKWARD." — DEMONETTJ^ATION     OF     GOLD. — 
,     \     Il/A'll'  N  OF  hILVEK  — THE  RESULT. — GOLD  STANDARD  COUNTRIES  — BI8TKES8, 
-  >VM1!<>M!S.— DIVi      SI.       CONDITIONS      AFFECTED. — SILVER      COUNTRIES. — PRANCB,— ' 
NO.  V.       LliiiNA. — JAlAN. — SPANISH  AMERICA. — RAISINU   PRICE  OF  SILVER, 

CHAPTER  X. 

"ZTm  Beyond  8ea.^* 

rvr,T,AND    AND    AMERICA. — FREE    TRADE   VS.    HIGH    TARIFFS. — ERNEST   SETD'A 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Covdusion.     An  Appeal  and  a  Warning, 

Pf^nrous  CHARGES. — APPROACIirNG  DISASTER. — A  MANIAC  AT  TTTT?  TTFT-M — A 
l,\><T  ITKAL  —  THE  FORLORN  HOPE  —DECEIVERS  EVER. — THE  PRJiSi.«T  eiXUAliON,— • 
u    I  >  1  i.icAA  XiaCKS,-  TAKE  YOUR  CHOICE  —A  LAST  WARNING. 


APPENDIX. 


(a)      TIIR    HAZZARD    CIRCULAR.  (g)      TAT5LES    OF    PT?TCES.    ETO  ,    CORW, 

(  lU       THE  HUKLL  CIRCULAR.  COTTON     WHEAT  AND     SILVER.— 

(C)       TlIK   PANIC  BULLETIN.  AVERAGE    WHEAT    CROP. — PRICB 

'  I»)       TMR  EXTRA  SESSION  CIRCULAR.  OP  WHEAT. 

(k)       TllK     DEMONETIZATION    FRAUD    OF 

I H78  (n)      REPUBLICANS  AND  SILVER, 

(F)      THE      ERNEST      SEYD     CASE.— THE  (jj      SOME  FOREIGN  LAND  OWNERS. 
LUCKENBACH       '  nAFFIDAVIT.  — 

HOOPER      ON     ERNEST     SEYD.—  (j)      THE  UNEMPLOYED  PROBLEM. 

DAWES  ON  ERNEST  SEYD-WELLS  /^x      p^R^LLEL  HISTORY. 
ON  ERNEST  SEYD.- SUMMARY  OF 

TUB  SEYD  CASE.  (l)      KEW  ZEALAND'S  BZPEBIMSNT, 


!<BREAKERS    AHEADr'' 


By  Sdwatd  Irving,  A-'ilior  of  "  la  the  Par  West,"  Etc 


CHAPTER  I. 


•*  These  are  the  times  that  try  men's  souls." 

More  than  a  hundred  years  have  rolled  away  since  these  words  first  felT 
the  startled  ears  of  the  American  colonists.  >  \ 

The  cry  was  taken  up,  the  riyhta  of  man  were  vindicated,  and  a  mighty 
/nation  of  free  men  was  the  result. 

Today  sixty  millions  of  people  in  this  country  atid  a  thousand  millions  in 
other  lands  bear  witness  once  more  that  **  These  are  the  times  that  try  wen's  souls.** 

The  producing  classes  have  produced  all  the  wealth  of  the  world. 

The  idle,  non-producing  ciaf^ses  now  own  the  greater  part  of  this  wealth. 

The  producers  of  the  world  are  today  being  driven,  by  oppreseion  and 
|trickery,  to  battle  for  their  lives  and  liberties. 

The  fight  is  getting  to  be  very  near.  The  noise  of  its  strife  may  already 
1t)e  heard  in  the  land. 

It  is  to  be  a  battle  of  giants,  f^uch  as  the  earth  has  never  seen  before,  and 
"will  never  see  again. 

The  Rebellion  of  the  Southern  States  was  but  a  fight  of  pigmies  compared 
"with  the  coming  strife. 

For  the  Rebellion  was  only  a  local  fight.  The  coming  conflict  will  be 
wide  as  the  world  itself. 

If  the  producers  can  win  the  fight  by  peaceable  means  they  will  do  so, 
hut  if  it  comes  to  a  question  of  bloodshed  or  slavery,  they  will  not  permanently 
submit  to  slavery  unless  they  are  compelled  to  do  so. 

You  will  be  amongst  the  fighters  of  this  great  battle,  whether  you  wish  to 
fight  oV  not, 

Do  you  want  to  be  f.  und  on  the  ri  :ht  side  or  the  wrong?  Do  you  want  to 
fight  for  liberty,  prosperity  and  justice,  or  for  plavery,  starvation  and  fraud? 

If  you  are  honest  men  and  women  ycu  can  only  give  one  answer  to  these 
questions.  If  you  must  fight,  you  would  tight  for  the  right,  for  liberty, 
prosperity  aid  justice  to  all. 

Then  listen  for  a  short  time  and  I  will  try  to  show  the  cause  of  the  trouble 
and  the  issues  of  the  comine  conflict. 

Ever  since  the  close  of  the  Rebellion  in  the  United  States  there  has  been 
a  continual  fight  for  supremacy  between  the  Republican  and  Democratic 
Iparties. 

Amongst  other  subjects  of  dispute,  financial  matters  have  been  the  cause 
^of  fierce  conflicts. 

Each  party  has  charged  the  other  with  leading  the  ship  of  state  into 
5dangerou3  waters. 

The  Republicans  have  managed,  for  the  most  part,  to  keep  in  office  and 


6  BREAKERS  AHEAD.    / 


power,  and  have  attributed  the  growing  wealtlr  of  the  country  to  their  good 
management. 

The  Democrats,  on  the  other  hand,  have  attributed  every  unfavorable 
change  in  the  condition  of  the  people  to  Republican  mismanagement,  and  have 
tried  their  utmost  to  get  into  power  so  that  they  might  undo  the  mischief  their 
opponents  were  doing. 

In  '85  they  git  into  oflice,  but  owing,  as  they  allege,  to  the  fact  that  they 
had  not  the  control  of  both  houses  of  Congress,  no  change  for  the  better  occurred. 

The  Republicans,  therefore,  went  into  power  again  in  '89. 

At  the  last  electioa  the  Democrats,  by  strenuously  insisting  that  the 
safety  and  prosperity  of  the  country  depended  on  their  return  to  office,  were 
elected  by  an  enormous  majority  to  take  charge  of  the  helm. 

This  time  they  got  control  of  both  houses,  so  that  those  who  believed  in 
the  principles  of  the  Democratic  platform  told  us  that  all  would  now  be  fair 
sailing.    All  abuses  would  be  rectified,  and  an  era  of  prosperity  would  ensue. 

Once  in  office,  however,  the  Democrats  evinced  no  great  eagerness  to  put 
the  ship  about.  The  trade  of  the  country,  which  had  long  been  in  a  very 
unsatisfactory  state,  became  much  worse,  till  a  regular  panic  set  in.  An 
enormous  number  of  commercial  enterprises  went  to  the  wall,  throwing  millions 
of  men  out  of  work. 

It  was  than  said  that  it  wouM  be  unwise  to  alter  the  course  of  the  ship  til] 
the  financial  storm  had  blown  over. 

It  was  explained  that  the  platform  of  principles  by  which  they  had  got 
into  power  did  not  mean  exactly  what  people  had  supposed  it  to  mean. 

Many  of  those  who  had  helped  to  put  the  Detuocrats  into  power  were  diB-» 
gusted  to  find  that  the  ship  was  not  only  being  steered  still  further  iUvO  diffi- 
culty and  danger,  but  that  more  sail  was  being  crowded  on. 

It  had  long  been  apparent  to  many,  that  if  the  course  was  not  changed, 
it  was  only  a  question  of  time  before  the  good  ship  REPUBLIC  would  be  on  the 
rocks  of  financial  bankruptcy. 

In  this  beUef,  some  of  them  who  had  lost  faith  in  both  parties  gathered 
under  a  new  standard  and  set  up  the  terrible  cry  of  "  BREAKERS  AHEAD  1" 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  were  sneered  at  by  bor^h  parties  as  calamity- 
howJers,  the  new  party  has  rdade  enormous  gains,  and  in  the  opinion  of  many 
thouj,htiul  observers,  will,  by  the  next  presidential  election  be  able  to  change 
the  coarse  of  the  vessel  towards  a  less  dangerous  haven. 

The  country  has  now  been,  for  some  time,  in  the  throes  of  a  great  com- 

nercial  panic,  which  if  not  speedily  reliev*»d,  may  lead  to  grave  trouble.    Those 

who  were  dubbed  calamity-howlers  for  foretelling  its  approach,  never  have  that 

epithet  thrown  at  them  now,  for  it  has  cost  the  country  more,  financially,  than 

four  years  of  civil  war. 

Millions  of  people,  who  have  hitherto  been  content  to  side  with  the  Demo- 
crats or  Republicans,  without  really  trying  to  get  to  the  bottom  facts  of  the  ques- 
tions at  issue,  are  now  being  driven  by  stress  of  circumstances  to  try  and  find  oat 
the  true  cause  and  cure  of  the  present  disastrous  state  of  affairs. 

They  are  asking  one  another  the  question 

"WHERE    ARE    WE    AT?" 

For  their  benefit  I  propose  to  explain,  as  well  as  I  can,  the  present  <to< 


BREAKERS  AHEi^. 


edition  and  prospects  of  the  American  people  with  regjurd  to  politics,x«mmercs 
sand  social  welfare. 

Before  doing  so  I  will  say  a  few  words  about  the  aims  of  those  w^oitmndedl 
this  great  Republic  more  than  a  century  ago. 

Then  give  some  idea  of  the  condition  of  the  jteo^lef^fty -years  ago. 

After  that,  describe  the  greai  changes  (for  better  and  lor  worse)  winch  have 
taken  place  since  then,  and  the  terrible  danger  wMehnow  thr^tenstl^  bu^nesa 
of  the  country^  the  liberties  of  the  people.  feheexiBteaee  of^the  R^pfublic,  andthe 
^vance  of  civilization. 

The  worst  feature  of  the  present  critical  state  of  affairs  here  and  in  Eiirope| 
is  that  the  bulk  of  the  people  do  not  yet  fully  understand,  the  causes  which  are  at 
work  bringing  their  labors  to  naught — rewarding  industry  with  poverty  wtfich 
has  no  bottom,  and  idleness  with  wealth  that  has  no  Hmtt. 

I  have  an  idea  that  in  tracing  out  the  cause  and  the  cure  oi  the  disease  in; 
this  country,  I  may  to  some  extent  do  away  with  some  misconceptions  which -ex- 
ist about  the  cause  and  the  cure  ef  tiie  same  disease  in  othw  parts  of  the  world., 
Muiy  English  people  are  looking  {(urward  to  the  time  when  England  will  be  a; 
republic.  It  is  well,  therefore,  that  they  too,  should  know  something^of  the: 
real  state  of  affairs  in  the  United  States  to-day,  that  they  may  avoid  the  tremen- 
<lou8  mistakes  which  will,  if  not  rectified  within  the  next  ten  years,  prove-the' 
■aruin  of  the  Greatest  Republic  on  Earth, 

A  certain  philosopher  once  made  the  remark  t&at  the  history  of  Bd.«ice-iff 
respectable,  but  that  the  history  of  religion  and  poUtlos  is  deplorable. 

The  old  idea  was  that  the  people  were  pawns  or  playthings  made4)y  th« 
(Almighty  for  the  use  of  their  diviaely  appointed  lords  acd  masters.  The  pgnca-J 
tnide  of  Egypt,  if  they  prove  nothing  eisa,  Bhaw  that  this  idea  more  than  heldi 
its  ground  6000  years  ago. 

Wherever  this  absurd  opinion  prevailed  the  lesult  was  the  same--deapoti8m,v 
barbarism  and  slavery. 

There  were  many  more  or  less  snccessful  attempts  made,  in  different  partt^ 
of  the  world,  to  get  rid  of  the  oppressive  systems  founded  on  this  idea. 

A  HUNDRED  YEABS   AGO. 

A  little  over  a  hundred  years  ago  America  and  France  threw  off  the  kingly  y<*e^ 
and  started  a  new  system  of  government,  with  liberty,  equality  and  fraternity  tcfTi 
their  watchwords. 

OBJECTS   OP  THE  FOUNDERS. 

The  founders  of  the  American  Republic  "Aimed  at  abolishing  for  ever,  not: 
only  the  rank  and  titles  of  hereditary  nobility,  but  also  those  vast  differences! 
of  wealth  and  social  grade  which  were  supposed  to  depend  upon  monarchial 
government.  Their  objects  were  to  secure  not  only  political  and  religious  free-, 
Klom,  but  also  an  approximate  equality  of  social  conditions;  or,  at  the  very  leafl^ 
OLQ  adequate  share  of  the  comforts  and  enjoyments  of  life  for  every  industrious' 
citizen." — [A.  R.  Wallace,  ^rena.] 

SLAVERY  OP  THE  BLACKS. 

Owing  to  the  opposition  of  the  Southern  States,  the  founders  failed  to  secure^ 
iliberty  for  the  black  man.  Yet  they  never  lost  sight  of  the  desirability  ofcabol-i 
ishing  slavery  as  soon  as  it  could  be  done.  ^  , 

One  of  the  founders,  Thomas  Jefferson,  proposed  gradual  emaneipation^lMitj 
tailed  to  secure  it.  Many  years  afterwards  he  declared  that  the  people,  mnsfi 
padopt  it,  or  worse  will  follow !  Nothmg  is  more  certainly  written  in  theibool( 
^  fftte  than  i;hat  these  people  areio  be  free,** 


•3?he'grawth*of  the  cotton  industry  in  the  south  made  it,  in  time,  almo8t»MaR 
feoBsibleito  abolish  slavery.  The  system  grew,  till  there  were  4,000,000  <offlla?w4 
ni4he  country.  / 

^Although  these  slaves  failed  to  secure  liberty  and  equality^^the  bulk  of  "thexx* 
feot  'an  iinferior  kind  of  fraternity.  They  had  the  necessaries  and  some  of  the? 
bomiorts  of  life.  They  were  fed  and  clothed,  were  doctored  when  sick,  and^Bup^ 
pairisediin  their  old  age. 

FIFTY  YEARS  AGO. 

Leaving  out  the  question  of  slavery,  it  may  be  said  that  50  years  ago  th€> 
pastern  Sfeat&s,  although  they  had  their  troubles,  were,  ou  the  whole,  -in  m 
ponderfuUy  prosperous  and  satisfactory  condition,  especially  when  comparecfi 
)with  the  Old  World. 

'The  Western  States  of  course  were  not  then  in  existance. 

If 'the  founders  of  the  Republic  had  returned  to  the  scenes  of  their  formei^ 
labors  they  would  have  been  delighted  at  what  they  saw. 

The  land  v>  as  occupied  by  prosperous  farmers,  who  paid  neither  rent  noif 
mortgage  interest.  They  worked  hard,  and  reaped  the  benefit  in  a  rude  abund4 
iance.    As  Alfred  R.  Wallace  says : 

"Almost  all  the  necessaries  and  many  of  the  comforts  of  life  were  obtained 
by  the  farmer  from  bis  own  land.  He  had  an  abundance  of  bread,  m^atancK 
poultry,  with  occasional  game.  Of  butter,  cheese,  fruit  and  vegerablea  rherd 
/was  mo  lack.  He  made  his  own  sugar  from  his  maple  treee,  and  soap  frona, 
refcwe  fat  aud  wood-aauea ;  while  ^lia  c  ohhes  were  the  produce  of  his  owaflaciisi 
spun,  and  often  dyad,  woven  and  made  at  home.  His  land  contai  ned  timber 
not  only  for  iirine,  but  for  fencing  and  house-building  ma  erials,  as  well  as  for, 
making  many  of  his  farm  implemeubS  ,  and  he  easily  soUl  in  the  nearest  townf 
taun^Ui  Kji  Hid  turpiaj  proiiUjts  to  provide  the  few  foreign  luxuries  that  the* 
family  required."— [^rena  March,  1893.] 

The  same  writer  says : 

"Not  only  the  pauperism  of  Europe,  but  even  ordinary  poverty  or  want 
was  quite  unknown.  Th?*  absence  of  beggars  was  a  noticeabia  fac(,  and  excepf 
m  cases  of  illness,  accident  cr  old  uge,  occasions  for  the  exercise  of  charity 
^ould  hardly  arise." 

There  wag  then  work  for  all  at  remunative  prices.  Anyone  who  was  notf 
jsatisfied  to  work  for  wages  went  to  where  the  land  was  still  unoccupied,  and 
1;here  made  for  hims?ilf  a  home. 

From  the  crowded  cointriea  of  the  old  world  multitudes  of  toilers  came 
over  the  sea  to  make  homes  for  themselves  on  our  brodd  praries.  And  as  thej^ 
came  they  merrily  sang: 

"  To  the  west,  to  the  west  I  to  the  land  of  the  free, 
Where  mighty  Missouri  rolls  down  to  the  sea. 
Where  a  man  is  a  man,  if  he's  willing  to  toil, 
And  the  humblest  may  gather  the  fruits  of  the  soil. 

And  they  did  not  come  in  vain.  They  got  the  benefit  of  their  labor  andl 
ferospered  accordingly. 

Millionaires,  tramps  and  paupers— those  blasters  of  civilization— were  theii 
^nlmown.    Crime  was  comparatively  rare. 

CONTRAST   WITH   EUROPE.         ^ 

What  a  wonderful  difference  there  is  between  this  picture  and  that  presenter 

feJEarope.    One  would  almost  think  that  in  America  it  was  not  true  that  **jniii9 
isrmade.to  mourn." 

CAUSE  OF  CONTRAST. 

As  ttoithe  cause  of  the  contrast  there  was  some  difference  of  opinion. 


^"  BREAKERS  AHEAD.  9^ 

<'  •  i 

Some  said  it  was  becan-^'^  the  land  was  not  crowded  like  Europe.  .' 

Others  said  that  a  Eepubdo  founded  on  liberty,   equality  and  fraternity  could? 

not  help  being  happier  and  more  prosperous  than  monarchies  weighted  down' 

,by  big  armies  and  navies,  bad  law?  royal  paupers,  licentious  courts,  aristocratic 

parasites,  and  greedy  state  churches. 

^  THE   REBELLION. 

^^  A  few  years  after  the  period  we  have  been  considering  came  the  revolt  of 
She  Southern  States,  brought  about  by  that  slavery  which  the  founders  of  th© 
(Eepnblic  had  failed  to  abolish. 
^  ;i^  The  North  then  determined  to  abolish  slavery  entirely. 

ABOLITION  OP   SLAVERY. 

At  a  fearful  cost  the  rebellion  was  put  down,  and  every  slave  was  set  free. 
-'  The  country  once  more  settled  down  to  the  arts  of  peace.     The  ever  menac"' 
|lng  danger  had  beea  at  la^t  overcoiae,  and  slavery  had  been  abolished  forever. 

The  objects  of  the  foundera  were  accomplished.  At  lait  there  was  liberty^ 
1egualiiyBJi.dJraternilytor&\i,  — — 

AFTER  FIFTY  YEARS, 

,   It  is  now  nearly  thirty  years  since  the  close  of  the  war.  

The  country  has  been  advancing  in  wealth  and  pooula  Hon  ever  since.  Let, 
tlfl  see  how  the  condition  of  the  people  now  compares  with  that  of  the  period  w© 
jhave  been  conslderiug. 

WE.VLTH  RELATIVELY  GREATER. 

,  The  iceatth  of  the  country  is  now  ten  times  what  it  was  fifty  years  ago. 

Tiie  population  of  the  conntry  is  n->w /our 'times  what  it  was  filty  years  ago. 

Consequent  y  every  individual  is,  or  should  be,  two  and  a  half  times  as  well  off  a9 
he  voas  then. 

And  as  there  was  no  poverty  in  the  country  then,  the  wildest  imagination  can 
hardly  imagine  anythiu;?  so  absurd  as  to  supnosa  that  there  is  any  poverty  in  the 
jcountry  novo.  Or  if  there  is,  surely  it  is  confined  eutirely  to  thoie  of  whom  it  is 
'said  "  he  that  will  not  work  neither  shall  he  eat." 

Unless  the  country  has  been  ruled  by  vicious  or  incompetent  law-makers, 
^every  one  who  has  beea  thrifty  and  industrious  must  uow  be  in  the  pos^e!3ion 
not  only  of  every  necessary,  but  also  of  every  reasonable  comff  r  and  luxury. 

Ev^ry  family  of  five  persons  has  novv,  or  should  have,  $5000,  that  baing  its 
proportion  of  the  wealth  of  the  country. 

If  we  are  to  judge  bv  the  glowing  accounts  of  progress  given  by  the  paperSj,. 
magazines  and  books,  this  is  not  very  far  from  being  the  case. 

ONE   SIDE   OP  THE   SHIELD. 

The  war  naturally  upset  things  considerably,  but  since  it  closed  there  has  been 
'almost  uninterrupted  progress.      Wealth    and    population  have  increased  en- 
Wmously.     Commerce  has  advanced  by  leaps  and  bounds.    Bailroads  have  been ' 
'built  ever}  wheie,  even  to  the  distant  ^^^ est.    Cities  and  towns  have  sprung  up^ 
like  magic.     Factories,  workf  hops,  and  mines  have  multiplied  beyond  belief. 

Pleasant  and  even  stately  homes  have  arisen  in  many  ten  thousands  all  over' 
the  land. 

In  the  cities,    schools,  colleges,    libraries,   gymnasiums,   clubs,   museums, 
churches  and  theatres  have  gone  up  like  magic.    State  Capitols  and  Palaces  of  \ 
•Justice  have  been  built  which  rival  the  grandest  structures  of  the  old  world. 

In  the  country,  farmi  have  spread  over  the  plains  like  the  ripples  sweep  oversi' 


10  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


Sake  when  the  breeze  strikes  it.  Even  the  desert  wastes  are  fast  being  reclaimed 
^b/ irrigation  ditches  and  artesian  wells. 

THE  GREAT  LAKES  AND  BIVEES 

swarm  with  floating  palaces,  splendid  beyond  the  dreams  of  -a  Csesar — 
with  freight  steamers  heavy  laden  with  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of  life. 

There  were  practically  no  railroads  in  the  States  fifty  years  ago.  Now  there 
are  170,000  miles  of  them,  besides  thousands  of  miles  of  street  railways  of  all 
kinds  in  the  cities.    . 

Thousands  of  freight  cars  are  ever  on  the  move,  transporting»grain,  fruit,' 
minerals,  and  manufactures  sufficient  to  glut  the  mightiest  empire  ia^^e  wotid; 

As  R.  E.  Edmunds  says  in  the  Engineering  Magazine  for  April,  1898: 

**  The  Unitbd  States  is  now  the  leading  countby  in  the  would.  We  h^v^ 
far  outstripped  all  other  nations  in  the  magnitude  of  our  industrial  operations,.: 
*  *  *  No  other  country  in  the  world  ever  advanced  in  p(^iiLation. and 
wealth  as  the  Uoited  States  is  doing." 

Aa  to  tb«  Qovemment,  it  is  still  a  Republic. 

Tberft^  practically  no  standing  army  to  be  supported  by  the  bread-winners." 

And  not  much  of  a  navy. 

We  havo  a  free  press  and  free  speech. 

All  have  votes,  and  the  people  make  the  lawsand-electiiie  jadge84Hi9 
officials. 

Homesteads  can  still  be  had  free  for  the  asking. 

So  far  it  would  appear  that  if  the  founders  of  the  Republic  were  to  return  ttiey 
would  be  amazed  and  delighted  at  the  progress  made  by  their  beloved  country. 

Is  it  possible  then  that  there  are  actually  pec^le  in  the  United  States  Wtio 
lare  not  satisfied  with  things  as  they  are— who  allege  that  there  has  been  incoHBe- 
potency  and  mismanagement?  How  hard  to  please  such  people  must  be.  SurePf; 
oar  great  statesman,  "  Honest  John  Sherman,"  was  right  when  he  toid*one  of 
these  grumblers  that  he  was  a  liar  and  ought  to  be  hanged. 

Fet,  after  ail,  the^e  is  another  side  to  the  picture. 

Would  to  God  that  there  was  not. 

WHAT  IS  PROSPERITY? 

In  the  Arena  for  January,  1893,  is  an  article  by  the  editor,  B.  0.  Flower,  eoS 
iitled,  **^re  We  a  Prosperous  People  V 

The  writer  points  out  toat  for  a  country  to  be  prosperous  it  must  not  only  b©( 
'wealthy,  but  the  wealth  must  be  fairly  well  distributed  amongst  the  peoyle.  He  tells? 
us  that: 

"  If  all  the  wealth  of  the  United  States  was  controlled  by  five  men,>while 
over  sixty  million  people  were  practically  vassals  or  slaves,  it  could  not  be 
^aid  that  ours  was  a  prosperous  people  in  the  true  sense  of  the  term.  And  it  is 
equally  true  that  if  conditions  are  such  tbar,  each  succteding  year  drives  miUioiu* 
'of  our  countrymen  nearer  the  dark  sea  of  want  and  despair,- even  though^a  fewi 
hundreds  or  thousands  of  individuals  become  vastly  wealthier,  we  are  not:m'« 
(prosperous  condition." 

This  is  reasonable  enough.  Mv  ideal  of  a  prosperous  country  is  one  wherej 
(there  are  no  kioh  and  no  poor.  Every  industrious  person  should  be<ible  to  obtain^4h4 
hfieoessaries  and  comforts  of  life  without  having  to  do  more  than  his  share  of  the  wor'JeJi 
^When  this  can  be  done  continuously  crime  will  gradually  decrease  and^paapeail 
And  tramps  will  become  as  absent  as  millionaires.  J 

Unless  Bellamy  is  a  true  propnet  this  ideal  can  nevei^be  fully  realizedi^iw 
^6  tendency  should  bo  in  that  direction. 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  U 


The  United  States  of  fifty  years  ago  did  not oome  very  far  shorb-ofeltin^eonwi 
respects. 

TilE    OTHER    SIDE   OF   THE   SHIELD. 

In  the  Arena  article  juet  qioted  from,  the  writer  shows  thaWa  1890  thA  mia^^^ 
her  of  evictions  in  the  whole  of  downtrodden  Ireland  was  a  little  over  5,000.  In'^fibe 
same  year  there  were  nearly  24,000  evictions  in  New  York  cit^^ilone. 

In  '92  this  number  had  increased  to  nearly  30,000.  At  a  low  computatitwi' 
this  will  represent  100,000  social  outcasts. 

•*  Let  U8  imagine  the  spectacle  of  this  army  of  haggard,  half-starved  men^' 
women,  and  children— the  army  of  the  overpowered — uniformed  in  saga 
and  tatters  in  mid-wioter,  *  *  marching  with  mourafu^  tread  [mst  the^ 
lordly  palaces  of  Fifth  Avenue,  and  gazing  wietf ally  at  the  dazzling  splendors  of 
homes  whose  owners  represent  hundreds  of  millions  of  acquired  wealth." 

Twelve  of  these  owners  together  own  $825,000,000.    This  sum  would  keep  all 
>4he  population  of  London  in  comfort  for  one  year. 

One-fifth  of  all  the  people  that  die  in  New  York  city  to-day  die  in- the  w>rk- 
iiouses,  insane  asylums  and  hospitals. 

And  more  than  half  of  th^se  are  buried  in  the  Potter's  Field. 

All  the  great  cities  of  America  tell  the  same  tale.  From  one  and  aU  fbe 
«ame  bitter  cry  of  want  and  distress  goes  up  to  heaven,  and  goes  up  in  vain. 

And  in  every  city  from  50  to  100  millionaires  loll  in  luxury  and  ease,  or 
t>usy  themselves  in  cornering  the  fo^d  of  the  people  for  their  own  profit. 

So  much  for  the  cities,  now  for  the  country. 

As  B.  0.  Flower  says  in  the  same  article : 

**  The  farmers  are  among  our  most  sober  and  law-abiding  citizens.  Thejd 
are  alpo  the  most  incesrant  workers,  toiling  from  early  dawn  till  the  blanket  ol 
night  has  completely  enveloped  the  land.  If  any  people  in  the  Republic  deserve 
to  be  prosperous,  it  is  our  farmers." 

Taking  Nebraska  for  a  sample,  because  its  returns  are  most  complete,  we! 
•find  from  the  official  papers  that,  in  one  year,  farm,. city,  and  chattel  mortgages 
were  filed  to  the  amount  of  $03,000,000. 

In  the  same  year  the  released  mortgages  amounted  to  $42,000,000,  so  that  in 
one  year  tha  mortgages  increased  $18,000,000. 

Besides  this,  more  than  2000  mortirage^  were  foreclosed. 

In  five  of  the  Central  States  there  were  nearly  twelve  hundred  thousincE 
real  estate  mortgages  in  force  in  1800.  These  represented  nearly  twelve  hundred 
million  dollars.    And  the  int«rest  on  the-e  is  often  as  hii?h  as  12  per  cent. 

Nine  million  farm  and  lot  morti?  i^.e  i  are  now  on  file  at  Wa  hington.  Tbeie 
are  a  little  over  twelve  million  families  in  the  Republic.  As  the  mortgages  are 
increasing  rapidly,  and  maay-fcen-tJioasands  are  bain^  foreclosed  every  year,  it  is 
veasy  to  see  that  unless  th'^re  is  a  change  very  soon  everything  will  fall  in  to  the 
money  men,  and  they  will  own — a  desert. 

The  people  no  mora  sing  with  glee: 

"  To  the  west !  to  the  west  I  to  the  home  of  the  free, 
Wnere  mighty  Missouri  rolls  down  to  the  sea." 

For  their  old  homes  are  bting  swept  away,  and  as  they  wander  out  into  the 
liarkness  they  cheer  one  another  by  a  mournful  air: 

*•  Weep  no  more  my  lady  I  /' 

_  O !  weep  no  more  to-day  I 

We  will  sing  one  song 
For  the  old  Kentucky  home— 
For  t^e  old  Kentucky  home,  far  away." 


12  BREAKERS  AHEAJDi. 


One  of  the  main  causes  of  all  these  accumulating- mortgages «  i8<tlie3failUic 
j|«ice  of  everything  raised.  This  would  nob  matter  so»  mucht  eventually/  ifj 
mortgages,  interesfcp,  taxes  and  insurance  would  fall  too,  but  asj  they/do >  uofct  falK 
jit  is  the  same  as  thoai^h  they  were  being  raised  all  the  time; 

The  fall  in  v^lue  of  live  stock  in  the  last  twenty  years<ma^e8ithe  presentf 
stock  worth  $1,000,OjO,000  leas  than  it  would  have  beeni  worths  if  prices  hadlr^ 
jmained  the  same. 

The  land-ownera  are  fast  becoming  the  tenants  of  foreign  capitaliats,. 

Big  farmg  are  crowding  out  little  ones. 

As  the  hopes  of  gating  a  competency  fail,  the  farmers  lose  their  spiirit^i^ 
Some  of  thecn  get  shiftless,  take  to  drinking,  lose  everything,  and  drift  away  ta 
swell  the  army  of  tramps  and  bummers. 

In  1810  the  farmers  owned  90  per  cent  of  the  wealth  of  the  country.  At 
present  they  own  only  20  per  cent,  but  pay  80  per  cent  of  the  taxes. 

Thirty  thousand  people  now  own  one-half  of  the  wealth  of  the  UnitecB 
States. 

Three-quarters  of  the  wealth  of  the  country  is  now  in  the  hands  of  250,000 
persons.  Supposing  th  it  these  represent  1,000,000  iml'vidanls,  that  leaves  thet 
other  quarter  of  the  country's  wealth  in  the  hands  of  64,030,000  persons. 

Allowing  that  half  of  these  are  fairly  well  off,  that  leaves  30,000,000  of  peoples' 
in  poverty  varying  from  the  "shabby  genteel''  down  to  the  direst  distress  it  im 
possible  to  conceive. 

The  result  is  that  crime  is  rampant  as  it  never  was  before.  Is  it  any  wondsri 
•that  ev?ry  pip-r  is  full  of  murder^,  robberies,  incendiaries, divorctiS  and  suicides?^ 
'Forty  years  ago  thare  were  ftoo  criminkls  to  7  000  peraoiis.  Now  theie  are  winfta; 
'  "11  farf^s  the  land,  to  hastening  ills  a  p^e-v. 

Where  w^^a'rh  acciiuiuiates  ahd  men  decay." 

In  1806  there  wer«  520  business  failures;  in  '0^ there  were  18,000. 

And  last  year  there  vvere  times  when  there  were  as  many  failures  in  onej 
jweek  as  in  the  entire  year  of  'GQ. 

Wages  are  still  high^3r  thaa  in  England,  but  the  working  Jiours  are  longer,  andl 
the  workmen  are  rubhed  fc.ll  the  tin  I  e.  Clothing  and  tools  are  higher.  Employ-;" 
vfient  is  less  cunLinjuous,  Miliions  can  barely  secure  necessities  by  continuoua; 
toil. 

Even  as  I  write  th-^re  are  300,000  men  in  New  York  city  aud  Chicago  who* 
fbeg  in  vain  for  leave  to  t'^il.  The  condition  of  tha  pajr  iu  the  largo  ciues  ia 
fiomething  awful  to  contemplate. 

Two  hundred  thousand  children  are  toiling  in  factories  when  they  ought^tot 
fbe  at  schi  ol.  A  million  tr}ii'u,g  are  prowling  through  the  country  like  hungrj?^ 
jWolves,  seek  ng  what  they  may  devour. 

i  And  all  the  time  that  the  poor  are  growing  poorer,  the  milliouaires  are  multi*- 
plying  like  maggots  on  a  pu'rifying  carcass.  In  1800  there  were  only  twojot 
jthem.     Now  there  are  over  thirty  thousand. 

Every  fresh  millionaire  means  so  many  thousands  more  in  poverty.  He.  ifiH 
only  another  dog  in  the  manger  to  starve  so  many  mure  producers.    He  ifl  onljf> 

r other  nail  in  the  coffin  of  the  Republic. 

IAb  the  Rev.  Joseph  Cook  eays:  **  If  present  causes  which  produce>ati 
traction  of  wealth  continue,  the  Republic  will  soon  be  owued  by  lees  than 
thousand  persons." 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  is 


Fast  as  the  wealtk  of  the  country  is  increasing,  poverty  is  increasing  stUl 
faster. 

Inside  of  ten  years,  if  something  doesn't  drop,  a  handful  of  Wall  Street 
l>rokerB  will  own  sixty  millions  of  slaves.  But  something  will  drop,  and  don't; 
you  forget  it. 

A  cure  must  speedily  be  found,  or  the  Republic  will  go  under. 

My  next  chapter  will  deal  with  some  causes  of  the  impending  ruin* 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  CAUSE  OF  THE  TBOUBLB — CLASS  LEGISLATIOIT. 

It  seems,  then,  that  the  condition  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  is  very 
i&T  from  being  so  satisfactory  as  many  of  our  writers  have  beea  making  out. 

This  being  settled,  the  next  thing  is  to  find  cut  the  cause  of  the  perilous 
cban  ^es  which  have  taken  p!ace  during  the  last  generation.  Then  we  shall,  per- 
haps, be  able  to  remove  the  cause  and  bring  back  prosperity  before  it  is  too  late; 
to  eave  the  Republic. 

The  three  great  problems  of  commerce  are  the  production,  distribution  and( 
consumption  of  wealth. 

The  problem  of  the  production  of  wealth  has  been  solved  in  our  own  days  by| 
the  introcuction  of  machinery.  This  enables  us  to  assist  the  puny  muscles  of  I 
man  by  the  giant  forces  of  nature. 

The  coneumpiion  of  wealth  does  not  require  solviDg,  it  will  take  care  of  itself. 

The  fault  evidently  lies  in  the  distribution  of  wealth.  There  is  a  constant 
ttndency  for  it  to  gather  in  lumps  like  flints  gather  in  a  bed  of  chalk. 

Fifty  3  ears  ago  many  pecple  attributed  the  prosperity  of  the  country  to  the 
fact  that  it  was  a  Republic,  unburdened  by  Court,  Aristocracy,  State  church, 
feudal  relics,  etc. 

But  the  country  is  still  a  Republic,  and  the  Government  is  still  supposed  to 
be  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and /or  the  people. 

Others  COL  teiided  that  America's  advantage  lay  in  the  fact  that  it  was  not 
crowded  like  Europe. 

But  the  population  is  still  less  than  twenty  to  the  mile,  whilst  Great' 
Britain  has  over  three  hundred.  And  the  thinly  settled  parts  suffer  as  much  as 
the  lest  of  the  country,  even  where  good  crops  are  raised. 

Europe  is  now  groaning  under  the  heavy  burden  of  immense  armies  and, 
navies,  from  which  America  is  still  comparatively  iree. 

Yet  if  thirgs  do  not  change  soon  we  shall,  before  long,  have  to  emigrate  to 
Europe  or  elsewhere  to  keep  from  starving.  That  is,  unless  we  upset  the  govern- 
ment, hang  the  millionaires,  and  start  afresh. 

The  truth  is  that  wherever  wealth  accumulates  rapidly  in  the  hands  of  pri- 
vate capitahsts,  poverty  increases,  whatever  be  the  form  of  government  or  tariff 

policy. 

A  GAME  OF  CHANCE. 

Any  one  who  is  engaged  in  business  for  himself,  either  in  the  production  or 


14  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


distribution  of  wealth,  is  really  playing  a  game  of  chance.  He  calculates  as  to 
what  hi«  crops  or  goods  will  cost  him,  and  estimates  the  probable  demand  for  hie 
goods  and  the  price  they  will  fetch.  There  is  always  some  uncertainty  as  to  the 
future,  so  he  has  to  judge  the  future  by  the  past  and  present.  If  his  calculations 
are  carefully  made,  the  result  should,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  justify  him  in 
running  the  risk. 

DEFEAT  ALMOST  CERTAIN. 

But  as  things  are  now,  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  result  does  not  turn  out 
satisfactory.  The  crops  may  be  as  good  as  expected,  but  there  is  an  unforseen  drop 
in  the  demand  and  price  of  his  products. 

The  result  is  that  the  time  comes  when  he  cannot  meet  all  his  expenses  as 
they  become  due.  Hoping  that  things  will  be  better  next  year,  he  mortgages 
his  property  to  pay  his  debts. 

But  the  next  year  another  mysterious  fall  takes  place,  and  he  has  to  cripple 
himself  to  pay  even  the  interest  on  the  mortgage. 

The  next  year,  or  the  year  after,  things  are  worse,  and  so  it  goes  on.  It  is 
only  a  question  of  time.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  labors  and  economize  s  to  the 
very  uttermost,  he  at  last  loses  everything  and  has  to  go  and  scramble  with  the 
wage-earners  to  get  a  share  of  their  work  and  pay.  ! 

INDUSTRY  IS  USELESS. 

Now,  what  was  it  caused  the  fall  of  prices  which  ruined  this  man  ?  He  was 
careful,  industrious,  honest,  saving  and  sober.  He  had  no  expensive  habits,  but 
denied  himself  and  his  family  to  try  and  keep  afloat,  yet  he  went  under  not^ 
withstanding  it  all. 

WHAT  IS  THE  CAUSE? 

Was  it  a  mysterious  dispeneation  of  a  merciful  Providence,  bent  on  chastis- 
ing him  for  his  manifold  shortcomings? 

No,  it  was  not  that.  Seed  time  and  harvest  have  not  failed.  The  trouble 
was  with  the  prices  of  what  he  raised. 

It  must  have  been  due  to  overproduction,  some  one  will  say.  Is  there  too 
much  wheat,  cotton  and  corn  in  the  world? 

No.  it  is  not  that,  for  millions  of  people  are  crying  in  vain  for  food  and 
clothing.  They  are  toiling  night  and  day  without  being  able  to  get  all  they  need 
to  keep  them  in  health. 

LOADED  DICE. 

The  real  reason  for  the  man's  failure  was  that  the  opponents  of  his  little  game 
of  chance  were  millionaires  who  could  control  the  volume  of  money  and  thereby 
(fix  the  prices  to  suit  themselves. 

;  The  fact  is  that  the  moneybrokers  are  fighting  the  producers  with  LOADED 
DICE. 

THREE  SUCCESSFUL  CLASSES. 

The  result  is  that  (outside  of  the  millionaires)  there  are  only  three  classes  of 
people  who  can  make  headwa^,  or  even  hold  their  own. 

They  are  the  exceptionally  fortunate,  the  exceptionally  cunning,  and  the 
exceptionally  unscrupulous. 

All  others  are  in  the  position  of  the  man  who  tries  to  fill  a  tank  with  water 
whilst  the  bung  is  out.  The  more  he  sweats  at  his  pump-handle  the  more  runs 
out  of  the  bung-hole. 

Hard  work,  perserverance  and  economy  do  not  count.  The  one  who  is  toil- 
ing up  the  hill  slips  back  faster  than  he  can  climb. 


BREAKERS  AHEAD,  15 


This  is  a  fine  etate  of  thinga  indeed,  for  a  country  which  professes  to  give  a 
fair  show  to  every  one  who  is  willing  to  work. 

There  have  been  people  all  the  time  who  understood  the  cause  of  the  mal- 
distribution  of  wealth. 

In  fact  some  of  them  deliberately  worked  and  plotted  for  it,  year  after  year. 
It  is  they  who  have  loaded  the  dice.     It  is  they  who  have  pulled  out  the  bung. 

As  a  result,  they  are  wealthy  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice.  Their  posses- 
Bions  are  so  vast  that  they  are  borne  down  by  the  care  of  them. 

Others  saw  the  peril,  and,  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  warned  the  country  o! 
the  danger  before  it. 

Nearly  thirty  years  ago  President  Lincoln  wrote  as  follows: 

"Yes.  we  may  all  congratulate  ourselves  that  this  cruel  war  is  nearing  its 
close  *  *  *  but  I  see  in  the  near  future  a  crisis  approaching  that  unnerves 
me,  and  causes  me  to  tremble  for  the  safety  of  my  country. 

As  a  result  of  the  war  corporations  have  been  enthroned,  and  an  era  of  cor- 
mp^ion  in  high  places  will  follow,  and  the  money-power  of  the  country  will  en- 
devor  to  prolong  its  reign  by  working  upon  the  prejudices  of  the  people  until 
all  wealth  is  aggregated  in  a  few  hands  and  the  Republic  is  destroyed.  I  feel  at 
this  moment  more  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  my  country  than  ever  before,  even 
in  the  midst  of  war." 

"SEVEN    FINANCIAL   CONSPIRACIES." 

Five  years  ago  a  little  book  was  published  in  Kansas,  entitled  "  Seven 
Financial  Conspiracies  which  have  Enslaved  the  American  People."  It  was 
written  by  a  lady,  Mrs.  S,  E,  V,  Emery ,  and  was  "  Dedicated  to  the  Enslaved 
People  of  a  Dying  Republic." 

It  came  on  a  startled  people  like  a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness,  and  at 
once  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention  and  excitement.  It  opened  the  eyes  of 
thousands  of  people  to  the  fact  that  this  country  is  at  present  only  a  sham  Re- 
public, and  that  the  real  law-makers  are  the  millionaires  of  London  and  New 
York. 

So  great  a  stir  did  the  little  book  make  that  the  politicians  were  alarmed, 
and  did  their  utmost  to  down  it.    As  the  Junction  City  (Kansas)  Tribune  says : 

"  It  was  made  the  special  object  of  attack  by  tJie  ablest  speakers  of  the 
great  monopoly  ysrcty  of  the  State,  by  organized  central  committees,  and  by  the 
most  powerJul  and  widely-circulated  journals  of  the  great  Wall-street  party. 

Yet  in  all  this  fiery  furnace  of  rage,  vituperation,  slander,  and  abuse,  not  a 
break  or  fracture  was  found  in  the  harness  of  this  glorious  little  book.  Not  a 
statement  was  disproved  or  a  position  overthrown.  Republican  speakers  on  the 
rostrum  were  seen  to  exhibit  it  to  their  audiences,  to  misread  its  pages,  to  use 
the  most  withering  invectives  in  their  denunciations,  and  then,  in  their  rage, 
to  spic  upon  it,  and  to  stamp  it  with  their  feet." 

It  was  in  vain.  Three  hundred  thousand  copies  of  the  work  have  now  been 
published.  Its  influence  is  growing  day  by  day.  A  new  party  was  formed  in 
the  summer  of  '92  to  drive  the  money-power  from  office. 

At  the  elections  in  November  of  the  same  year  it  polled  more  than  a  million 
votes.  Today  it  would  poll  at  least  three  times  as  many,  and  if  things  go 
>  on  as  they  are  going  now,  at  the  next  presidential  election  the  golden  calf  will  be 
ground  to  powder,  and  the  people  will— for  the  first  time  since  the  war— rule 
for  themselves. 

But  the  Wall  street  men  will  make  a  terrible  fight.  Millions  of  dollars  will 
go  in  bribes.  The  heavy  hand  of  the  creditor  will  be  over  all  the  land,  and  every 
poesible  trick  and  misrepresentation  will  be  tried  to  set  the  people  off  on  a  false 
Bcent. 


le  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


But  the  nation  will  win  eventually.  For  only  ignorance  and  diyisions  can 
permanently  keep  60,000,000  of  people  in  slavery.    As  President  Lincoln  said: 

"Some  men  can  always  be  fooled,  all  men  can  sometimes  be  fooled,  bat  all 
xnen  cannot  always  be  fooled." 

The  Bev.  T,  Be  Witt  Talmage  {-ells  us: 

**There  is  trouble  ahead.  Eevolution.  I  pray  God  it  may  be  peaceful 
revolution  and  at  the  ballot  box." — ^^ Pathway  of  Life.*' 

If  the  victory  cannot  be  won  by  ballots,  it  will  have  to  be  won  by  bullets. 

If  once  the  people  be  firmly  persuaded  that  the  ballot-box  is  unequal  to  the 
task  of  freeing  them  from  their  masters,  they  will  adopt  other  means. 

"When  that  time  comes,  millionaires  will  be  strung  up  to  lanap-posts  like 
►carrion;  their  palaces  will  be  burnt  to  the  ground,  their  wealth  Sfized  and 
iscattered  to  the  winds,  whilst  a  carnival  of  blood  reigns  supreme." — J,L.  btay,  in 
\N&w  Nation. 

Some  of  our  Millionaires  know  this.  One  of  them,  when  asked  why  he  did 
not  build  a  palatial  mansion,  replied: 

■  "J  don't  want  a  house  thai  will  be  so  easily  found  when  the  hungry  fellows  break 
I  loose." 

SUMMARY  OP  THE  BOOK. 

liCt  US  briefly  examine  the  little  work  and  see  what  it  is  all  about.  The  first 
I  chapter  discusses 

THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

When  the  war  broke  out  the  Wall  street  brokers  went  wild  with  joy. 
i        As  is  always  the  case  in  times  of  war,  gold  was  hoarded  and  disappeared 
[from  circulation. 

[        The  Government  could  not  carry  on  the  war  without  money,  bo  it  went  to 
I  Wall  street  for  a  loan. 
[        The  patriotic  brokers  at  once  offered  money— af /row  24  to  36  per  cent  interest. 

Lincoln  refused  it,  and  Congress  passed  an  act  authorizing  the  issue  of  sixty 
imillion  dollars'  worth  of  treasury  notes,  which  became  known  as  greenbacks, 
;These  did  not  bear  interest  to  anybody,  and  were. full  legal  tender  for  all  debts. 
The  brokers  were  foiled.    There  was  no  demand  for  their  hoarded  gold. 

'  I,      THE   EXCEPTION   CLAUSE. 

'  The  brokers  immediately  held  a  convention  at  Washington,  and  urged  the 
(Senate  to  alter  the  act  so  as  to  make  duties  on  imports  and  interest  on  the  public 
j  debt  payable  in  coin. 

So  much  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  that  the  Senate  mutilated  the  act. 

Congress  finally  accepted  it.  So  the  money  power  won  its  first  victory  over 
Hhe  people. 

This  change,  of  course,  put  a  big  premium  on  gold,  and  gave  the  bankers  a 
icinch  on  the  Government.  It  also  depreciated  the  greenbacks,  for,  when  the 
Government  that  issued  them  refused  to  take  them  back  in  payment  for  debts, 
(other  people  were  not  likely  to  do  so  if  they  could  help  it. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  greenbacks  came  into  existence  mutilated, 
they  relieved  the  strain,  and  the  war  was  carried  on  with  them.  The  country 
^prospered  in  spite  of  the  war. 

Owing  to  this  exception  clauee,  enormous  prices  had  to  be  paid  for  imported 
i,tea,  sugar,  coffee,  etc.  People  paid  tnese  big  prices  without  being  able  to 
fdiscover  the  reason  for  them.  In  July,  1864,  an  importer  who  had  $100  to  pay 
in  duty,  had  to  pay  the  Wall  street  brokers  $285  for  the  necessary  gold. 

It  is  estimated  that  in  1864  alone,  this  exclusion  clause  put  into  the  hands  of 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  17 


rihe  Wall  street  brokers  nearly  $400,000,000.    That  is  to  say,  every  lamiiy  in  the 
>land  was  robbed  of  $87  in  one  year. 

U.      THE  NATIONAL  BANKS. 

Meanwhile  the  authorities  were  induced  by  the  importunity  of  the  greedy 
capitalists  to  borrow  money  from  them  instead  of  making  it  themselves.  [See 
Appendix  A  and  B.] 

So  instead  of  issuing  more  greenbacks,  which  cost  nothing  and  answered 
every  purpose,  they  issued  the  interest-bearing  bonds  which  are  today  crushing 
America  to  the  earth. 

In  1863  Congress  started  to  farm  out  its  money-making  powers  to  the  banks. 

The  National  Bank  Act  enabled  the  banker  to  get  back  90  per  cent  of  his 
ibond  investment  in  the  form  of  National  Bank  notes.  So  be  could  sell  his  gold 
to  the  importer  at  a  huge  profit,  invest  the  greenbacks  in  Government  bonds  at 
face  value f  draw  interest  in  gold  in  adixince,  get  nearly  all  his  money  back  in  notes 
at  1  per  cent,  and  lend  them  out  to  the  people  at  10  or  12  per  cent. 

In  this  way  he  drew  interest  from  the  Grovernment  and  from  individuals  on 
the  same  investment. 

Verily,  we  Americans  can  lick  creation  when  it  conies  to  roguerv. 

In  1887  the  National  Banks  held  nearly  $60,000,000  in  notes  at  1  per  cent 
interest.  They  loaned  it  out  to  the  people  at  from  10  to  12  per  cent,  or  used  it  to 
comer  the  necessaries  of  life. 

So  the  money  power  won  its  second  victory  oxxr  iJie  people. 

After  the  act  had  been  in  force  for  some  time,  Salmon  P.  Chase,  who  helped 
the  bankers  pass  it,  found  out  his  error.    He  wrote: 

"My  agency  in  procuring  the  pasHage  of  the  National  B^nk  Act  was  the 
greatest  mistake  of  my  life.  It  has  built  up  a  monopoly  that  affects  every 
interest  in  the  country.  It  should  be  repealed  But  before  this  can  be 
accomplished,  the  people  will  be  arrayed  on  on<:)  side  and  the  ban&s  on  the  other 
in  a  contest  such  as  we  have  never  seen  in  this  country." 

III.      CONTRACTION. 

In  1866  an  act  was  passed  enabling  the  holders  of  greenbacks  to  exchange 
them  for  uu taxed  interest-bearing  bonds.  The  greenbacks  were  then  destroyed 
by  tne  Government. 

Every  transaction  of  thia  kind  made  so  much  less  currency  for  business,  and 
so  much  more  to  pay  interest  on. 

The  holder  of  greenbacks  had  to  employ  his  money  in  trade  or  manufacture. 
But  by  turning  it  into  bonds  he  escaped  paying  taxes  or  insurance,  and  got  his 
interest  without  work  or  worry. 

Destroying  the  currency  lowered  the  prices  of  everything  and  ruined  thousands. 
The  business  failures  in  '66  were  520.  They  have  ^one  up  almost  every  year 
frince  then  and  now  amount  to  j  early  20,000. 

The  debt-paying  power  has  been  r  dujfd  more  than  the  debt  itself. 

In  '87,  althoui^h  interest  to  doable  the  amount  had  been  paid,  it  would  have 
required  more  bushels  of  wheat,  etc.,  t  j  pay  it  off  than  at  fir.t.  Tlie  same  with 
'he  interest  on  the  debt. 

So  the  money  power  won  its  th'rd  victory  over  the  people 

IV.      CREDIT-STRENGTHENING  ACT. 

In  1869  forty  capitalists  of  New  York  city  got  the  Republicans  to  nominate  j 
and  elect  General  Grant  as  President.    Ht  at  once  paid  for  his  election  by  passing 


18  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


what  was  known  as  the  Credit-Strengthening  Act.  It  made  the  5-20  bonds  payable 
in  COIN.    This  act  added  $125,000,000  to  the  burdens  of  the  people. 

The  year  before,  John  Sherman  had  called  the  bond-holders  repudiators  and 
extortioners  to  demand  payment  in  gold.  Yet  when  appointed  to  the  Treasury 
.he  helped  them  to  pass  the  act.  And  in  '79  (having  by  some  unknown  meansf 
become  a  millionaire  )  he  said  that: 

"To  refuse  to  pay  the  bonds  in  gold  woula  be  repudiation  and  extortion,  and 
would  be  scoffing  at  the  blessings  of  Almighty  God." 

As  an  English  writer  says : 

*'It  is  a  trick  of  capital  in  all  countries  to  persuade  the  people  that  their 
honor  is  at  stake  in  tho  payment  of  war  debts  at  the  highest  valuation  the 
avarice  of  the  holders  may  set  on  them." — Fawcet. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  when  the  bill  passed  there  were  189  bankers 
in  Congress,  and  as  many  bond-holders.  They  were  there  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  a  banker  cannot  legally  be  a  member  of  the  House. 

As  Thaddev,s  Stevens  said : 

"We  had  to  yield.  The  Senate  was  stubborn.  We  did  not  yield  until  we- 
found  that  the  country  must  be  lost  or  the  banks  gratified,  and  we  have  sought 
to  save  the  country  in  spite  of  the  cupidity  of  its  wealthier  citizens." 

V.      REFUNDING    ACT. 

Passed  in  3870.  PrevcBts  the  Government  from  paying  the  public  debt 
before  a  certain  time,  even  when  it  has  the  money. 

So,  with  millions  in  the  Treasury,  and  millions  loaned  out  to  banks  free  of 
interest,  the  debt  cannot  be  paid  off.  About  $750,000,000  of  it  cannot  be  paid  off 
till  1907.  It  puts  the  country  in  the  position  of  "Sinbad  the  Sailor,"  with  the 
"Old  Man  of  the  Woods"  on  bis  shoulders. 

The  party  which  passed  this  act  has  ever  since  been  doing  its  utmost  to- 
spend  the  surplus  in  other  ways,  so  that  the  Government  may  never  be  able  to 
payoff  its  debts.  This  parity  explains  the  freedom  with  which  money  has  been 
spent  in  various  more  or  less  unprofitable  ways.  The  "Old  Man  of  the  Woods" 
has  come  to  stay,  even  if  we  do  have  a  "billion-dollar  Congress." 

One  word  of  the  bill  was  altered  after  it  passed  Congress,  making  the  4  per 
cent  bonds  payable  after  thirty  years  instead  of  before. 

So  the  money  power  won  itBffth  victory  over  the  people. 

VI.      DEMONETIZATION   OP  SILVER. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  crime  of  critMs,  The  crime  above  all  the  other 
crimes  which  American  finance  has  committed. 

In  1873  a  harmless-looking  bill  was  introduced  from  the  Mint  Committee^ 
It  was  supposed  to  contain  merely  regulations  for  expediting  the  working  of  the 
Mint.  Hooper,  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  in  spite  of  some  opposition, 
got  the  bill  passed  without  being  read  in  Congress.  "Honest  John  Sherman'' 
saw  it  safely  through  the  Senate.    [See  Appendix  E.] 

This  bill  stopped  the  coinage  of  silver  and  destroyed  its  money  value.  B> 
so  doing,  it  further  contracted  the  currency,  prevented  the  payment  of  bond? 
and  increased  their  value.  It  was  passed  at  the  request  of  Ernest  Seyd^  an  agen* 
sent  here  from  England  by  the  foreign  bond-holders.  To  enforce  his  arguments 
he  brought  with  him  $500,000. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  throw  doubt  on  Ernest  Seyd's  visit  to  thi.^ 
country.  But  there  is  positive  official  proof  that  the  above  statement  is  correct, 
rSee  Annendix  F.l 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  19 


Bonds  ^re  now  not  only  payable  in  coin^  but  in  gold  only.  Gold,  of  course, 
went  up  in  value,  whilst  silver,  now  a  mere  commodity,  deprived  of  its  money 
value,  went  down,  carrying  aloifg  with  it  every  other  commodity. 

From  1833  to '73  silver  was  almost  stationary  in  value,  but  ever  since  its 
demonetization  by  the  United  States  it  has  been  going  down  steadily,  except 
when  ti)  e  3  emed  to  be  a  prospect  of  free  coinage  being  adopted.  Then  it 
went  up  in  price  along  with  corn,  cotton,  wheat  and  other  commodities,  only  to 
fall  again  when  it  became  evident  that  free  coinage  could  not  be  secured.  [See 
Appendix  G.] 

With  the  exception  of  specialists,  who  were  either  naturally  or  artificially 
friendly  to  demonetization,  no  one  knew  for  a  time  what  had  been  done.  Even 
President  Grant  professed  to  be  unaware  of  any  change,  and  expressed  his 
surprise  that  silver  was  not  offered  for  coinage.  Blaine  and  Thurman  both 
denied  that  they  knew  the  object  of  the  bill  at  the  time.  But  when  specie 
payments  were  resumed,  it  was  found  that  gold  was  the  only  metal  authorized 
to  be  coined. 

But  although  the  country  did  not  perceive  the  cause,  it  felt  the  effect.  As 
Mrs.  Emery  says : 

"The  injury  to  the  people  of  this  country  through  the  demonetization  of 
silver  can  never  perhaps  be  justly  estimated.  The  panic  of  1873  which  ensued 
was  one  of  the  most  disastrous  that  ever  befel  any  people.  Language  fails  in  a  1 
description  of  the  blighting  misery  that  desolated  the  country;  the  ravages  of; 
war  are  scarcely  comparable  with  it.  From  ihe  demonetization  of  silver  in  1873 
to  its  remonetization  in  1878  may  well  be  called  the  dark  days  of  the  Republic, 
Bankruptcies  and  financial  disaster  brought  in  train  their  legitimate  offspring; 
and  the  statistics  of  those  and  following  years  are  voluminous  with  the  most 
startling  and  loathsome  crimes.  Murder,  insanity,  divorce,  drunkenness,  and 
all  forms  of  immorality  and  crime  have  increased  from  that  day  to  this.  *  * 
The  contraction  of  the  currency,  commencing  with  the  destruction  of  the  green- 
backs in  1860,  and  the  stringency  increased  by  the  demonetization  of  silver  in 
1873,  has  been  productive  of  more  misery  and  crime  to  the  people  of  this  country 
than  all  the  wars,  pestilence  and  famine  with  which  they  have  ever  been 
afflicted." 

So  the  money-power  won  its  sixth  victory  over  the  people. 

Vn.      BESUMPTION  ACT. 

In  '75  an  act  was  passed  authorizing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  destroy 
the  fractional  currency  (that  is,  the  small  change  paper  money),  and  to  issue 
silver  money  to  take  its  place. 

The  paper  money  had  been  no  burden  to  the  country,  but,  to  buy  the  silver 
which  took  its  place,  interest-bearing  bonds  were  issued.  And  that  interest  is 
paid  by  the  people. 

Besides  this,  the  fractional  currency  could  be  sent  through  the  mail.  Now 
even  small  remittances  have  to  be  made  by  draft  or  money  order. 

So  the  money  power  won  its  severUh  victory  over  the  people. 

I  have  nos^  given  a  bare  outline  of  the  Seven  Financial  Conspiracies  described 
by  Mrs.  Emery.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  objects  of  the  conspiring  brokers  were 
to  get  the  gold  into  their  hands  and  then  to  raise  its  value  by  depreciating  and 
destroying  the  silver  and  paper  money  of  the  people.  The  result  of  the 
conspiracies  is  as  follows : 

At  the  close  of  the  war  the  amount  of  money  of  final  redemption  in  circula- 
tion was  two  billion  dollars  (Secretary  McOullough).  The  population  being 
35,000,000,  this  was  equal  to  $57  per  head. 


20  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


The  Treasury  atatietice  today  ehov  a  sum  of  $1,600  000,000  (supposed  to  be) 
in  circulation.    The  population  being  now  about  65,000,000,  this  would  be  |26. 

But  there  is  now  aa  immense  amount  of  it  locked  up  in  bank  te  erves  and 
hoards,  besides  what  has  been  lost  and  destroyed  by  fires,  shipwrecks,  etc.  It 
is  the  opinion  of  some  even  of  the  New  York  bankers  that  the  amount  in  circu- 
lation now  does  not  amount  to  more  thao  $6. 

And  at  the  close  of  the  war  there  wa^  $57  in  circulation. 

Political  economists  and  business  men  tell  us  that  a  great  proportion  of  the 
business  of  the  world  can  be  done  by  personal  cheques,  tiiat  is  by  money  of 
conditional  payment.  But  as  cheques  do  not  balance  one  anoth*  r,  at  least  5  per 
cent  of  the  money  of  final  payment  is  necessary.  If  there  is  lees,  the  result  is 
bankruptcy  and  ruin. 

When  we  see  that  the  population  and  business  of  the  country  have  been 
growing  ever  since  the  i^ar,  and  that  there  is  now  only  ove  tenth  of  the  money 
left  in  actual  circulafio'^,  we  are  no  lon,/er  surprised  that  the  business  failures 
have  increased  from  520  to  20,0)0  per  annum. 

In  1878  the  distress  o  ting  to  the  money  stringency  led  to  the  repeal  of  the 
act  ^hich  was  gradually  destroying  the  greenbacks;  $345,000,000  of  them  were 
saved  from  the  flames. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  state  that  the  repeal  was  not  carried  by  the  bankers, 
but  in  spite  of  them.    The  result  was  a  relief  to  the  people. 

THE   BLAND   ACT. 

In  the  same  year  the  people  gav^  the  money  power  another  check,  though 
it  was  more  of  a  compromise  than  a  victory.  Si  ver  was  rem  >netized  by  what 
is  known  as  the  B>and-A.lli  on  Act.  Silver  and  all  co  limodi^es  had  then  fallen 
10  per  cent  in  value.    Or,  to  be  more  acuraie.  gold  had  g'^ne  np  10  per  cent. 

The  bill,  as  sent  to  the  Senate,  authorizeil/ree  coinage  of  ssilver,  and  rt-stored 
its  legal  te  der  character.  If  this  had  been  carried,  silver  and  every  commodiiy 
v^ould  have  risen  to  the  old  scale,  and  prosperity  would  have  come  back  to  the 
people. 

The  S-^nate  muUl  a  ted  the  bill,  limiting  coinage  to  $4  000,000  a  monfh.  By 
pretending  that  the  mints  Acre  un»bie  to  com  so  mucli,  liie  HUiiioriues  never 
coined  more  than  half  that  amount. 

The  eraaeculafed  bill  wag  accepted  by  Bland  under  irotest  and  passed. 

As  free  coinage  had  not  been  obiain^d,  the  int-ineic  value  of  silver  cuniinued 
to  go  down,  carrying  with  it  everything  except  the  brok» rs'  loM.  The  reault  of 
the  amendments  is  that  the  con  it -y  ha«  lot  one  W  lion  dollars  n  paving  off 
bonds;  for  without  them  tbe  Bland  Act  would h  .verecoverei  that  amount  of  the 
eiolen  money. 

Instead  of  g"ttin»  back  to  the  bimetallic  or  op  ional  ptmdard  th^t  exiet  d 
before  '73,  the  reeulc  was  humphacke  I  mr>rttniiet'Ulisin  that  pleased  no  one  an  was 
bat  little  better  than  the  goid  stan'iard  itself. 

Daring  th*^  debates  the  gold  pt  ty  'alked  a  good  deal  about  the  "disbonest 
dollar."  This  referred  to  the  fact  that  the  ininneic  or  bdl'on  value  of  silver 
was  Ht  th  t  time  less  tl»an  its  money  v  lue.  This  was  all  a  blind,  for  v* hen 
t*[\ver  is  coincl  its  intrinsic  value  ia  lo3t  or  s^vamped  bv^  ihe  money  valu-^  give 
to  it  by  the  "fiat"  of  the  Government.  I  d*^-'*"  "O'.  ma  er  a  hill  of  beaus  how 
eopty  of  value  the  si  ver  may  be.  Ori<;e  toined,  the  money  v  lue  poa.s  inu>  a 
and  ma  ies  it  "as  go  d  as  ^<m 


BREAKERS  A.HEAD.  21 


This  is  not  a  mere  theory,  foi  though  silver  is  today  selling  at  less  than  half  ■ 
its  former  price,  the  silver  dollar  will  bu7  as  much  food,  clothing,  or  shelter  as  a 
jEold  one.  The  "dishonest  dollar"  men  might  j'lst  as  weli  have  called  their  own 
National  Bank  notes  dishonest  because  they  did  not  contain  their  value  in  paper. 
They  might  as  reasonably  say  that  postage  stamps  were  dishonest  for  the  same 
reason. 

Bat  they  let  the  cat  out  of  the  bag  when  they  magnanimously  offered  to 
fUow  the  'dishonest  dollar"  to  go  out  to  the  people  on  condition  that  their 
bonds  be  made  payable  in  gold.    This  was  defeated. 

THE    SHERMAN   ACT. 

In  1890  there  was  another  fight  between  the  bimetallista  and  the  "gold- 
bugs."  The  result  was  another  unsatisfactory  compromise  known  as  the 
Shera  an  Act. 

Tnifl  ordered  the  purchase  of  four  and  a  half  million  ounces  of  silver  per 
month  for  coinage,  to  be  paid  for  with  Treasury  bonds.  Although  but  a  com- 
promise (for  nothing  but  f<ee  coinage  will  keep  up  the  price  of  silver)  it  has  at 
h  ast  given  us  a  little  more  money  to  do  business  with  and  helped  to  keep  silver 
from  falling  still  lower  in  price. 

In  the  next  two  cbapiers  I  will  bring  this  history  down  to  date* 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  EIGHTH  FINANCIAL  CONSPIRACY. 

The  elpction  of  '92  was  fought  chiefly  on  the  tariff  question.  The  Republic- 
ans advocated  continued  protection,  whilst  the  Democrats  denounced  the 
McKinley  tanS  as  a  fraud  and  demanded  a  *' tariff  for  revenue  only." 

REPUBLICAN    PLATFORM 

On  the  money  question,  Article  III  of  the  Republican  Platform  declared  that:^ 
"The  American  people,  from  tradition  and  in  erest,  favor  bimetallism,  and 
the  Republican  party  demands  the  use  of  boih  gold  and  silver  as  standard 
money.  »  *  *  We  commend  the  wise  and  patriotic  steps  already  taken  by 
our  Government  to  secure  an  interna  ional  conference  to  adopt  such  measures 
as  will  insure  a  parity  of  value  between  gv.ld  and  silver  for  use  as  money 
throughout  the  world." 

DEMOCRATIC  PLATFORM. 

The  Democratic  Platform  denounced  the  Sherman  Act  as  a  cowardly  make- 
shift which  should  be  repealed.    Article  VII  said : 

"We  hold  to  the  use  of  both  gold  and  silver  as  the  standard  money  of  the 
countrv,  and  to  the  coinage  of  both  gold  and  sUver  without  discrimination  agaxv^ 
either  metal  or  charge  for  mintage,  but  the  dollar  unit  of  both  metala  must  be  ot 
equal  intrinsic  value,  or  be  adjusted  through  international  agreement,  or  by 
such  safeguards  of  legislation  as  shall  insure  the  maintenance  of  the  parity  ot 
the  two  metals,  and  tne  equal  power  of  every  dollar  at  all  times  m  the  niarketa 
and  in  the  payment  of  deuts,  and  we  demand  that  all  paper  currency  shall  be 
kept  at  par  with  and  redeemable  in  such."  ... 

[The  man  who  composed  that  sentence  ought  to  be  sent  to  school  again  to 
study  the  art  of  composition.]  •        *  *u 

"We  insist  upon  this  policy  as  especially  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the 


22  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


farmers  and  laboring  clasees,  the  first  and  moat  defenceless  victims  of  unstable 
money  and  a  fluctuating  currency.'* 

DEMOCKATIC  VICTORY. 

As  some  of  my  readers  may  possibly  remember,  the  Democrats  got  into 
ofl&ce  with  a  large  majority  in  both  houses. 

The  election  over,  about  six  months  were  spent  in  taking  possession  of  the 
offices  and  discussing  as  to  how  the  promised  reforms  were  not  to  be  carried  out. 

THE    PANIC. 

Meanwhile  the  money  power  of  England  got  Australia  into  trouble  by  her 
gold  standard.  England  herself,  sufl'ering  from  the  same  gold  standard,  with  its 
starvation  prices  and  ruinous  lockouts,  tried  to  drag  India  in  the  mud,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  bear  down  American  silver  still  more.  It  stopped  the  free 
coinage  of  silver  in  India. 

Silver  went  down  twenty  cents  an  ounce,  and  all  commodities  went  down  vnth 
it.  Instantly  every  silver  mine  in  the  United  States  closed  down.  Thousands 
of  unemployed  miners  flocked  to  Denver,  and  beat  their  way  east  by  train 
loads.    A  cry  of  distress  went  up  from  all  the  west. 

A   CORNER   ON   GOLD. 

The  Treasury  authorities  forced  the  gold  out  of  the  Treasury  by  paying  in 
gold  what  they  ought  to  have  paid  in  silver.  This  was  done  for  the  purpose, 
apparently,  of  making  it  appear  that  legislation  was  needed  to  bring  it  back 
from  Europe. 

The  New  York  bankers  and  their  allies  assiduously  worked  up  a  scare  for 
the  purpose  of  affecting  Congressional  action.     [See  Appendix  0.] 

The  resulting  panic  was  so  severe  that  they  themselves  were  sorely  punished. 
Depositors  were  scared  and  "went  for"  the  banks. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  we  have  what  is  claimed  to  be  "the  best  banking 

system  in  the  world,"  715  National,  State  and  Private  banks  closed  their  doors. 

As  the  United  States  is  now  in  the  position  of  the  horse  which  had  got 

down  to  one  straw  a  day,  there  was  a  collapse.    Business  came  almost  to  a 

standstill  for  want  of  money. 

A  special  session  of  Congress  was  called  to  relieve  the  "loani  of  confidence ^'^ 
as  the  stringency  of  money  was  called. 

Great  meetings  were  held  at  Denver,  Salt  Lake  City,  San  Francisco,  etc., 
demanding  free  coinage  of  silver.  Some  of  the  inland  western  cities  saw  thero- 
86lves  in  danger  of  being  wiped  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  the  tro^j-^ 
threatened  to  rot  in  the  fields  for  want  of  money  to  gather  them  in. 

Cleveland's  message. 
Then  Cleveland  issued  his  message,  in  which  he  abandoned  his  ''undiscrim- 
inating"  pledge  and  put  ofi'his  tarifi"  reform  till  the  panic  should  blow  over. 

repeal  asked. 
'  He  asked  for  the  "unconditional"  repeal  of  the  purchasing  clause  of  the 
Sherman  A  ct,  preparatory  to  further  legislation,   declaring  that  it  was  the  cause  of 
the  want  of  confidence  in  commercial  circles. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Sherman  Act  authorized  the  purchase  of  a 
small  amount  of  silver  per  month,  for  coinage.  It  could  only  have  two  effects, 
if  properly  enforced,  viz  :  To  increase  the  available  amount  of  money  in  the 
country  for  business  purposes,  and  to  keep  silver  (and  all  other  commodities) 
from  falling  still  further  in  value  with  reference  to  gold. 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  23 


Money  is  the  blood  and  the  life  of  commerce,  bo  that  Cleveland  stopping  the 
purchase  of  silver  to  keep  trade  alive,  is  like  the  fat  doctor  trying  to  cure  a  half- 
starved  patient  by  stopping  the  supply  of  food,  or  letting  out  some  of  his  blood. 

Cleveland,  having  called  the  Congressmen  together  to  do  his  bidding, 
suddenly  left  them  and — went  fishing. 

TUB   FIGHT  IN   CONGRESS. 

The  friends  of  silver  in  Congioss  did  not  like  the  President's  ill-concealed 
hostility  to  the  white  metal.  Knowing  that  if  the  act  should  be  unconditionally 
repealed,  and  no  substitute  be  passed,  it  would  leave  the  nation  at  the  mercy  Of 
the  brokers,  they  strenuously  resisted  the  repeal. 

They  rightly  reasoned  that  if  the  act  was  once  repealed,  it  might  be  impossible 
to  secure  satisfactory  legislation  on  account  of  the  President's  vetoing  power. 

A  long  and  bitter  fight  ensued,  in  which  the  "silver  knights'*  were  charged 
^y  their  opponents  with  prolonging  the  panic  by  refusing  to  repeal  the  act. 

On  August  11,  Richard  P.  Bland  struck  the  keynote  of  the  bimetallic 
policy.    He  said : 

"We  do  not  intend  that  any  political  party  shall  survive  that  will  lay  its 
^lonfiscating  hand  upon  America  in  the  interest  of  England  and  of  Europe  and 
demonetize  silver  in  this  country,  and  my  friends  of  the  eastern  Democracy,  we 
bid  you  farewell  when  you  do  it." 

SHERMAN   A   FALSE   PROPHET. 

On  October  17,  when  the  country  had  somewhat  recovered  from  the  panic, 
and  gold  was  coming  back  from  Europe  at  the  rate  of  ten  million  dollars  a  week, 
Senator  Sherman  told  the  Senate  that  if  it  would  repeal  the  silver  purchasing 
•clause  of  the  Sherman  Act,  it — 

"Would  gladden  the  hearts  of  millions  of  laboring  men  who  are  now  being 
turned  out  of  employment,  and  relieve  the  business  cares  of  thousands  of  men 
y^hose  fortunes  are  embarked  in  trade.  In  the  present  condition  of  afiaira,"  said 
he,  "there  is  no  monev  to  buy  cotton  or  corn  or  wheat  for  forei  m  consumption. 
Repeal  the  silver  purchase  act,  and  in  ten  days  from  this  time  the  skies  will  brighten, 
business  will  resume  its  ordinary  course,  and  'ttie  clouds  tnat  lower  upon  our 
house  will  be  in  the  deep  besom  of  the  ocean  buried.'  " 

The  silver  men  said  that  the  Senator  was  "talking  through  his  hat,''  and 
that  the  result  of  unconditional  repeal  would  be  a  further  fall  in  prices. 

SHERMAN    ACT   REPEALED. 

Democrats  who  had  been  promised  offices  under  Cleveland  were  kept 
waitiDg  for  their  positions  to  ba  confirmed  till  it  was  seen  how  they  would  vote. 
The  screw  was  applied  in  every  possible  way  [See  Appendix  DJ,  and  at  last  the 
"gold- bugs"  succeeded  in  securing  the  reopal  of  the  act. 

So  the  money  power  won  its  eighth  victory  over  the  people. 

FALL   OF    PRICES. 

But,  alas,  for  the  prophfsies  of  resulting  prosperity!  The  result  of  the 
repeal  was  exactly  what  the  "silver  knights"  had  predicted. 

Prices  went  down  as  the  certainty  of  repeal  bpcam*>  evident 

After  it  was  accomplished  ihey  rtaohed  a  lower  level  than  they  had  ever 
reached  before,  and  the  business  of  the  country  became,  if  possible,  worse  than 
evei, 

SHERMAN   A   TRUE    PROPHET. 

This  reminds  one  of  the  more  successful  propuesy  of  Senator  Sherman 
before  he  made  himself  a  milUonaire  by  going  over  to  the  side  of  the  gold  party, 
Hn  1869  he  said : 


24  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


"The  contraction  of  the  currency  is  a  far  more  distreesing  operation  than 
Senators  suppose.  It  is  not  possible  to  take  the  voyage  without  the  eorest  reenlts. 
To  every  person,  except  the  capitalist  ont  of  debt,  a  salaried  official,  or  am 
annnitant,  it  is  a  period  of  loss,  danger,  lassitude  of  trade,  fall  of  wages,  suspend 
■ion  of  enterprise,  bankruptcy  and  disaster.  It  means  ruin  to  all  dealers  whose 
debts  are  twice  their  business  capital,  though  one* third  less  than  their  actual 
property." 

CAELISLE'S  C017DEMNATI0N. 

It  also  recalls  what  the  Hon.  J.  G.  Carlisle  said  before  he  had  renounced^ 
his  position  as  "a  sender  of  messages"  to  become  ''a  bearer  of  them." 

On  February  20, 1878,  he  said  in  Congress: 

"According  to  my  view  of  the  subject,  the  conspiracy  which  seems  to  have 
been  parsed  here  and  Europe  to  destroy,  by  legislation  and  otherwise,  from 
three- sevenths  to  one*  half  of  the  metallic  money  of  the  world  is  the  mosti 
GIGANTIC  CRIME  OF  THIS  OB  ANY  OTHER  AGE.  The  cousumation  of  such  a  schen^ej 
would  ultimately  entail  more  misery  upon  the  human  race  than  all  the  wars,! 
pestilences  and  famines  that  ever  occurred  in  the  history  of  the  world." 

At  present  this  same  J.  G.  Carlisle  shares  with  John  Sherman,  thei 
Bepublican,  and  Grover  Cleveland,  the  Democrat,  the  honor  ( ?)  of  havingi 
consumatcd  what  he  himself  called  "THE  MOST  GIGANTIC   CRIME  or  thi& 

OB  ANY  OTHER  AGE."     ' 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SOME  MORE  CONSPIRACIES.--A  BROKEN  PROMISE. 

The  act  ha  vie  g  been  repealed,  the  next  thing  to  be  done  was  t )  replace  it  by 
the  promised  legislation  which  was  to  put  silver  again  on  an  equality  with  gold. 

Bof,  no!  That  was  not  the  intention  of  the  money  power  at  all.  The- 
promise  had  been  made  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  it  to  get  the  repeal.  That 
having  been  obtained,  an  excitement  was  got  up  about  some  little  islands  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  to  divert  attention  from  the  subject,  and  Congress  was  requested 
to  proceed  with  the  tariff  question. 

THE  TARIFF  FIGHT. 

Before  long,  another  big  fight  was  got  up  between  the  advocates  of  the- 
Wilson  tariff  and  the  McKinley  tariff. 

Both  of  these  were  high  tariff:!,  and  the  difference  between  them  was  not 
much  more  than  the  difference  between  "twe^-dledum  and  tweedlfdee."  Bat  as 
nearly  every  low  tariff  advocate  in  the  country  wanted  a  high  tariff  for  bis  own. 
productions,  the  questior}  served  its  usual  purpose  of  distracting  the  attention  of 
Congress  from  the  financial  question. 

Senator  Ingalls  was  not  far  wrong  when  he  declared  in  the  Chicago  Tribune- 
that: 

"The  tariff  is  not  of  as  much  weight  as  the  fly  on  the  cart  whe^^l.  The 
tariff  is  only  a  feint,  a  falf^  pretense.  Ic  is  only  an  instrument  for  juggling  and 
tomfoolery."— June  18,  1888. 

false  prophets. 

Those  who  had  prophesied  an  immediate  return  of  prosperity  on  the  repeal 
of  tho  Sherman  Act,  finding  that  the  result  was  the  onnoait^e  from  what  they  fiad 


BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


I  foretold,  now  said  that  the  uncertainty  on  the  tariff  question  was  the  cause  of  the 
continued  fall  of  prices  and  prostration  of  trade.  When  that  excuse  is  removed 
■  they  will  invent  another  one. 

THE  TRUE  CAUSE. 

Any  excuse  will  do  if  it  only  diverts  attention  from  the  ONE  GREAT 
CAUSE  which,\^ove  all  other  causes,  is  enabling  the  Wall  street  brokers  and 
their  English  accomplices  to  get  possession,  without  labor,  of  the  wealth  created 
by  all  the  producers  of  the  United  States. 

That  cause  is  the  shrinkage  of  values  due  to  the  demonetization  of  silver, 
which  was  obtained  by  fraud  and  has  been  continued  and  completed  by  whole- 
'  sale  bribery  and  corruption. 

PRICES   CANNOT  RECOVER. 

The  result  of  the  eight  financial  conspiracifs  which  have  now  been  su'^cessfuUy 
carried  out  in  this  country,  is  that  silver  is  lower  today,  compar-^d  with  gold, 
than  it  has  been  since  the  century  began.  And  so  are  wheat,  cotton  and  corn. 
And  they  will  remain  douon  until  gold  is  hurled  from  its  unrighteoud  pre-eminence.. 

I  read  in  one  of  the  papers,  the  other  day,  that — 

"Sheep,  cattle,  hogs,  hordes — all  the  products  of  the  farm — are  quoted  lower 
in  the  market  th<in  was  ever  before  kno^n.  Likewise  the  prod uc  a  of  the 
orchard  and  th=i  vineyard.  Dried  fraits  and  wine  are  away  down  ia  the  Pcal**. 
Land  itself  has  sud'ered  a  depreciation  in  market  value,  such  as  would  not  hi.ve 
been  thought  possible  a  few  years  ago." 

The  same  paper,  the  Stockton  Mail,  of  February  7,  1894,  says  th  *t — 

"Things  are  not  cheaper  with  reference  to  one  another,  their  exchange 
value  when  expressed  in  terms  of  othe'*  products  being  uninopiired.  It  i^  only 
when  the  value  is  ex  res  ed  in  terms  of  money  that  the  shrinkage  is  not  c^able.^. 
Silver  bullion  is  lower  in  price  than  for  a  nuadred  yeas,  wucac  oeing  ica  fauhful 
handmaid  in  the  decline.  Gold  bullion,  on  the  oth'=r  hand,  when  ir-*valiiMs 
expresped  in  other  tilings,  is  higher  than  ever.  Gold,  then,  is  the  om  thing  that  h  ty 
advanced.  Silver,  being  generally  cast  away  as  a  m  juey  m  Dal,  takes  its  pi'icrt  in 
the  list  of  commodities  and  yii^lds  to  the  dominating  influduce  or  gol  i.  Every 
day  we  see  itpm^  thnt  tell  of  the  ru^h  of  prospectors  to  new  gold-fields  and  f  rho 
opening  up  of  mininsc  properties  hitherto  regarded  as  unprofitable  to  worK.  W  iv  ? 
Because  half  an  ounce  of  gold  is  worth  as  m  .ch  n  )W  in  it-*  command  over  tne 
products  of  the  farm  and  tne  factory  as  an  ounce  was  worth  a  ie,v  yeara  ago." 

A   MONEY  FAMINE. 

The  money  of  the  country  has  to  balance  the  commodities  of  the  country. 
Takmg  the  silver  half  of  the  money  out  of  the  money  scale,  and  liumping  it 
amongst  the  commodities,  hag  resu  ted  in  sending  gold  up  with  a  rush,  whilst 
the  commodity  scale  has  gone  down  with  everything  in  it.  It  is  a  case  of  uujiist 
balances.     [See  fourth  page  of  cover.] 

Destroying  the  Treasury  notes  and  casting  silver  aside  as  a  fall  legal  tender 
money  have  thrown  all  the  burd-3n  of  our  va,t  cjmme'ce  upon  the  g  jid.  The 
capitalists  can  corner  that  as  easily  as  they  can  corner  wheat  or  cotton. 

Even  if  they  refrained  from  doing  so,  there  wouU  not  be  suffijient  to  go 
round,  so  commerce  is  starving  for  want  of  money.  Tne  trouble  is  not  a  want  of 
confidence.  It  is  nothing  in  the  world  but  a  mm^y  famine  deliberately  planned 
and  engineered  by  the  brokers  of  NbW  York  and  London. 

David  Hume  wrote : 

"Falling  prices,  miserv  and  destruction  are  inseparable  companions.  The 
disasters  of  the  dark  ages  were  caused  by  decraasing  money  and  fallinir  prices. 
With  the  increase  of  money,  labor  and  industry  gam  a  new  lease  of  life. 


26  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


The  Monetary  Commiasion  of  1876,  in  its  report,  says ; 

**An  increasing  value  of  mo!iey  and  falling  prices  are  more  fruitful  ot  humaiW 
misery  than  war,  famine  and  pestilence.  A  shrinking  volume  of  money  an^ 
falling  prices  have  a  tendency  to  concentrate  wealth,  to  enrich  a  few,  and  to 
impoverish  and  degrade  the  many." 

In  February,  1878,  the  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine  said : 

**I  believe  the  straggle  now  going  on  in  this  country,  and  in  other  countries, 
for  a  single  gold  standard,  would,  if  bucceasful,  produce  widespread  disaster  in 
and  throughout  the  commercial  world." 

We  have  now  got  down  squarely  on  this  single  gold  standard.  How  do  yon 
like  it,  fellow  citizens? 

THE   CAUSE   AND  EFFECT. 

The  result  of  a  money  famine  is  that  the  mass  of  the  people,  not  having  the 
medium  of  exchange,  cannot  *'swap"  their  products,  however  badly  they  may 
want  to.  They  have  to  do  without  everything  except  absolute  necessities.  This 
of  course  prevents  merchants  from  turning  their  stock  into  money,  and  they 
have  to  stop  ordering  more  goods. 

The  manufacturers  then  have  to  close  their  factories  and  turn  their 
employees  into  the  street. 

Millions  of  men,  women  and  children,  then  starve  in  sight  of  huge  granaries 
bursting  with  piled  up  food. 

R.  G.  Dunn's  repobt. 

As  R.  G.  Dunn  says  in  one  of  his  recent  reports: 

"The  most  astonishing  shrinkage  ever  known  in  purchases  by  consumers  has 
heen  at  the  bottom  of  the  prostration  of  trade  and  manufacture." 

WANT   OF   CONFIDENCE. 

The  men  who  have  caused  this  money  famine,  with  its  resulting  distress, 
Ignore  the  real  cause  and  say  it  is  all  due  to  a  want  of  confidence,  or  to  a  fear 
lest  the  McKinley  tariff  should  be  repealed.    Rats  I 

GREENBACKS   VS.  BONDS. 

A  number  of  years  ago  when  John  Sherman  was  in  the  Treasury,  he,  at  the 
instigation  of  the  bankers,  and  without  authority  from  Congress,  started  the  custom' 
of  keeping  $100,000,000  of  gold  as  a  reserve  funi.  At  present,  owing  to  th©' 
money  famine,  they  cannot  get  enough  money  to  keep  this  juak-pile  together,' 
and  at  the  same  time  pay  the  expenses  of  running  the  government.  They  might 
get  out  of  the  difficulty  without  trouble,  danger  or  expense  by  issuing  Treasury 
notes. 

As  one  of  our  papers  suggests : 

"Let  the  Government  issue  $500,000,000  of  greenbacks,  and  put  them  out  by 
making  ud  the  expected  deficit  in  the  Treasury;  by  buildmg  good  roads;  by 
paying  ofl"  outstanding  bonds,  instead  of  issuing  new  cues;  by  aiding  and 
assisting  people  to  clear  off  their  mortgages  and  save  their  homes — and  in  less 
than  six  months'  time  there  would  not  be  an  idle  man  (willing  to  worit)  in  the 
United  States. 

"Our  terrible  business  depression  would  be  at  an  end.  Business  would 
revive.  Farmers  would  be  getting  good  prices  for  crops.  Merctaants  would  b©' 
selling  ttieir  goods.  Wages  would  command  good  pay  and  continious  employ- 1 
ment. 

"All  that  the  country  needs  is  more  money!  And  if  we  had  plenty  of  moneyj 
in  circulation,  people  would  not  kaow  whether  we  had  free  trade  or  protection,] 
iand  they  would  not  care  a  straw." 

THE  NINTH  FINANCIAL  CONSPIRACY. 

The  only  objection  to  the  above  plan  is  that  it  does  not  enable  the  children. 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  27 


of  Abraham  to  rake  in  the  shekels.  That  objection  appears,  however,  to  be 
sufficient  for  the  Hon.  J.  Ct.  Carlisle,  for  he  has,  to  begin  with,  mortgaged  the 
country  for  another  $50,000,000  worth  of  bonds.  And  he  has  done  it  in  defiance 
of  the  law  and  without  authority  from  Congress.  If  this  is  not  folly,  then  it  is 
knavery.  o< 

THE    SEIGNIORAGE   BILL  VETOED. 

The  authorities  aop^af  to  have  made  up  their  minds  that  the  people  shall 
have  no  more  money  until  the  demands  of  the  brokers  for  more  bonds  has  been 
Acceeded  to.  They  have  already  begun  to  talk  of  issuing  more  of  them,  and  the 
President  has  had  the  audacity  to  veto  a  bill  which  would  reduce  the  silver 
junk-pile  at  the  Treasury,  aad  increase  the  currency  nearly  a  dollar  a  head. 

Verily,  the  ancients  were  right  when  they  declared  that,  "whom  the  Gods 
•wish  to  destroy  they  first  make  mad." 

coxey's  army. 

Meanwhile  an  organized  army  of  determined  men  is  marching  on  to  Wash- 
ngton  to  demand  the  rig  lit  to  live  without  being  driven  to  beg,  steal  or  starve. 

JOHN    brown's   body. 

And  as  they  go  they  are  siDgiog  a  song  that  has  already  been  sung  midst 
{the  roar  of  cannon  and  the  shrieks  of  the  dying.    They  are  singing: 
"John  Brown's  body  lies  mouldering  in  the  grave. 
But  his  soul  goes  marching  on." 

GATLING   GUNS. 

In  the  country  the  farmers  are  mortgaged  up  to  their  butt-chains  and 
stretchers.  Having  lost  all  hope  of  relief,  they  are  cleaning  up  their  old  muskets 
or  swapping  a  cow  for  a  Winchester  rifle. 

In  the  towns,  hungry  crowds  parade  the  streets  and  cry  for  work  or  bread. 
Many-ten-thousands  are  being  kept  alive  by  friends  who  are  themselves  but 
little  better  ofi". 

The  millionaires  are  preparing  to  spend  the  summer  in  Europe,  out  of  the 
reach  of  their  victims.  S  ^Idlers  and  gattling  guns  are  kept  ready  in  the  big  ciliee, 
and  those  in  authority  tell  us  that  unless  there  is  speedy  relief,  we  shall  have 
riots  and  bloodshed  such  as  this  generation  has  not  seen, 

WANT   OP   MONEY. 

It  is  a  cunou3  spectacle  to  see  this  great  countiy— wealthier  than  any 
country  ever  was  before— with  grain,  fruit,  cattle,  cotton,  coal,  iron,  gold  and 
Bilver-everything  needfal  for  prosperity-starving  m  the  midst  of  abundance, 
And  all  for  the  want  of  money,  which  the  government  could  create  by  a 

STROKE  OF  THE  PEN. 

As  the  Stockton  Mail  puts  it : 

Plenty  of  corn  and  plenty  of  wheat ; 
Plenty  of  food  for  folks  to  eat ; 
Plenty  of  meat  and  plenty  of  bread; 
Plenty  for  all,  when  all  is  said; 
Plenty  of  clothing,  plenty  and  cheap; 
\V<iol  at  a  discount,  cottoH  not  *steep; 
Everywhere  plenty,  more  than  enough, 
Yet  the  journey  of  life  is  remarkably  rough, 
P'or  times  are  hard. 


28  \        BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


Plenty  of  Bunehine,  plenty  of  rain, 
Plenty  of  storehouees  bursting  with  grain ; 
Goods  on  the  shelves  which  the  ragged  should  wear; 
Plenty — God's  plenty — is  seen  everywhere; 
Plenty  of  fruit  turned  to  gold  in  the  sun ; 
Plenty  of  fish  where  the  bright  waters  run ; 
Plenty  of  cattle  that  graze  on  the  plain ; 
Plentv  earth's  people  to  feed  and  maintain^ 
But  times  are  hard. 

Plenty  of  everything — isn't  it  funny? 
Plenty  of  everything  save  only  money ;  __- 
Money  we  make  for  ourselves  as  we  will; 
Money  we  coin  in  the  Goyernment  mill ; 
That  only  is  lacking.    There's  food  and  to  spare; 
There's  bread  for  the  millions  who  swarm  e^erywhero, 
But  the  money  we  make  at  our  will  for  our  kind, 
Is  lacking— such  folly  'twere  trouble  to  find — 
So  times  are  hard, 

PAPER  MONEY. 
When  VENICE  got  into  a  similar  situation  the  authorities  issued  paper 
moneys  which  made  her  the  center  of  commerce  and  the  world's  clearing-house.. 
For  600  years  it  was  worth  more  than  gold.  Even  in  the  midst  of  war  she  never 
had  a  money  panic.  For  it  was  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  and  had  the  Govern- 
ment to  back  it.  It  was  secured  not  by  being  redeemable  in  gold,  bui  by  having  the  eniire 
wealth  of  the  Republic  behind  it. 

When  the  AMERICAN  REVOLUTIONISTS  got  into  a  similar  difficulty, 
the  authorities  issued  paper  money,  which  enabled  them  to  defy  the  armies  of 
England, 

When  ENGLAND  got  into  a  similar  situation  in  1797,  the  authorities  issued 
paper  money  ^  which  carried  her  through  twenty  five  years  of  war  with  Napoleon. 
When  the  ALLIES  got  into  a  similar  eituation  in  1813,  they  issued  paper 
money f  which  overthrew  Napoleon, 

When  the  REBELLION  broke  out  in  America,  and  coined  money  disap- 
peared (as  it  always  does  in  a  crisis)  both  sides  issued  paper  money ,  which  kept 
up  both  armies  to  the  end  of  the  war. 

And  now  60.000,000  of  people  are  desperate  for  the  want  of  money,  and 
even  silver  is  refused  them,  because  the  money  power  wishes  to  own  the  people 
by  controlling  the  currency. 

Verily,  the  philosopher  was  right  when  he  declared  that  the  history  of 
politics  was  deplorable, 

AFEAID   OP   PAPER. 

Many  people  are  somewhat  afraid  of  paper  money,  becuase  it  reminds  them 
of  certain  "wild  cat"  paper  money  which  the  banks  used  to  issue  and 
defraud  the  public  with.  And  they  are  constantly  being  reminded  by 
interested  persons  that  certain  emasculated  greenbacks  depreciated  in  value,, 
to  the  manifest  injury  of  the  public. 

But  the  conditions  and  regulations  under  which  paper  money  will  retain  ita 
full  value  are  now  well  understood,  so  that,  if  the  bankers  can  only  be  kept 
from  emasculating  it  with  their  condemned  exception  clauses,  it  will  hold  up  it* 
head  as  the  equal,  if  not  the  superior,  of  gold  money. 

I  don't  ask  any  one  to  accept  this  on  my  ipse  dixit.  Listen,  ye  backsliding 
Democrats,  to  the  voice  of  John  C.  Calhoun,    He  said: 


BREAKERS  AHBAD.  29 


"I  undertake  to  affirm,  without  fear  that  I  can  bo  answered,  that  a  papei 
issued  by  the  government,  with  the  simple  promise  to  receive  it  for  all  its  dues, 
would  be  as  uniform  in  its  value  as  the  metals  themselves." 

This  bein^  so,  it  is  all  nonsense  for  Gsovxs  Cleveland  to  say,  in  his 
message  last  year : 

"Our  government  cannot  make  its  "^a*'*  equivalent  to  intrinsic  value." 

The  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine,  in  the  course  of  a  speech  he  made  in  1861,  held 
mp  one  of  the  original  greenback  dollars,  which  did  not  contain  the  exception 
clause^  and  said : 

"What  is  this?  A  dollar:  and  it  is  a  eood  dollar;  good  for  the  farmer,  the 
mechanic,  the  merchant,  the  pailor,  everybody.  What  r  kes  it  a  pood  dollar? 
Because  every  dollar's  worth  of  property  in  the  United  States  is  behind  it,  and 
the  life-blood  of  pvery  true  and  loyal  American  citizen  is  behind  it,  and  that 
makes  it  a  good  dollar." 

Judge  Tiffany,  one  of  the  greatest  legal  authorities  in  the  United  States. 
wrote: 

"There  is  no  such  thirg  aa  sold  or  silver  itioufty  or  paper  monev.  Money  is 
the  sovereign  authority  impressed  on  that  whichjislc  ipable  of  taking .  nd  retaining 
the  iirpreesion.  The  c  >in  maybe  m.  tal,  parcnment  or  paper.  The  value  is  in 
ths  stamp ^  and  not  in  the  metal  or  material,** 

WOODEN  MONET. 

When  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  found  money  necessary  in  trading  with 
the  Indians,  they  did  not  waste  their  time  by  digging  for  gold  or  silver,  but 
made  all  the  money  they  needed  by  simply  branding  pieces  of  wood  with  a  hot 
iron.  They  paid  the  Indians  for  their  pelts  with  this  wooden  money  and  agre«^d 
to  fell  their  guns,  blankets,  etc.,  for  so  many  pieces  of  it.  It  was  a  fiat  money 
pure  and  simple,  and  as  long  as  the  Indians  could  not  imitate  it,  it  proved  to  be 
"tie  good  as  gold." 

If  it  were  not  that  wooden  money  is  inconvenient  to  handle  and  easy  to 
counterfeit,  it  would  be  far  superior  to  either  gold  or  silver  for  money. 

Paper  monev  is  not  open  to  these  objections. 

All  the  labor  spent  in  mining  gold  and  silver  from  the  mountains  for  money 
is  utterly  thrown  away. 

The  only  reason  why  we  advocate  the  coinage  of  silver  and  gold,  as  well  s 
paper,  is  because  the  mass  of  the  people  are  not  yet  sufficiently  educated  to  re  y 
on  paper  money  by  itself. 

Not,  redeemable  in  gold,  but  backed  by  the  credit  of  the  greatest  Rppublic 
n  earth,  g  vernmont  paper  is  better  than  gold.  It  does  not  run  the  nation  in 
debt,  and  it  belongs  to  the  nation  itself,  not  to  the  money  brokers.  It  must  not 
he  issued  bv  banks,  but  by  the  Government  itself. 

Its  amount,  (f  course,  must  be  limited  by  public  requirements,  and  it  must 
be  legal  t^^nd^r  for  all  debts,  public  and  private. 

In  case  of  war  it  is  the  only  money  ^hich  will  not  shirk  its  duty. 

Surely  the  be  t  friend  in  trouble  is  also  the  best  friend  in  prosperity. 

Bus  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  money  power  will  strive  to  the  very  urtermost 
of  its  terrific  power  to  prevent  the  substitution  of  paper  for  specie. 

-Sinbad  the  Sailor"  never  was  birne  down  so  heavily  by  the  '  O  d  Man  of 
the  W  ods,"  as  the  producers  of  today  are  borne  down  by  the  money  power  of 

the  world. 

THE  day  cometit. 

Nearly  a  hundred  years  a-a,  when  Alexander  Hamilton  was  trving  to 


80  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


bring  the  people  of  America  under  the  yoke  of  a  new-born  aristocracy  and 
wealth,  Thomas  Jefferson  encouraged  the  people  by  Baying: 

"A  little  patience,  and  we  shall  see  the  reign  of  witches  pass  over,  their 
spells  dissolved,  and  the  people  recovering  their  true  sight,  restoring  the 
Government  to  its  true  principles." 

The  people  followed  Jt^fferson,  and  he  overthrew  the  threatening  money 
power  and  gave  the  prosperity  of  fifty  years  ago.  He  told  the  people  fchey  must 
emancipate  the  slaves  gradually,  or  worse  would  follow. 

They  refused  to  listen  to  him,  and  the  result  was  the  Rebellion,  with  all  the 
eyil  that  haa  grown  out  of  it. 

I'oday  the  outlook  is  darker  than  ever  before,  and  we  are  tempted  to  relax 
our  efforts  and  acknowledge  that  civilization  is  a  failure— for  the  million. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  all  we  hope  for  the  best  and  say  to  ourselves :  * 'A  little 
patience,  and  the  witches  of  the  night  shall  pass  away,  and  the  people  will  turn 
once  more  to  the  true  principles  of  Government." 

When  that  time  comes  America  will  once  more  be  a  land 

"Where  a  man  is  a  man,  if  he's  willing  to  toil,  , 
And  the  humblest  may  gather  the  fruits  of  the  soil." 

Then  the  settler  can  aga'n  sit  in  peace  and  plenty,  beneath  his  own  vine 
and  fig  tree.  He  can  sing  once  more,  by  the  glimmer  of  the  moon,  on  the  bench 
by  the  old  cabin  door.  And  as  he  remembers  the  nightmare  through  which  he 
has  passed,  he  will  sing : 

"The  song,  the  sigh  of  the  weary — 
Hard  times,  hard  times,  come  again  no  morel 

Many  davs  you  have  lingered  around  my  cabin  door— 
Oh !   Hard  time-»,  come  again  no  more !" 

THE  NINETY  AND  NINE. 
There  are  ninety  and  nine  that  live  and  di» 

In  want,  and  hunger,  and  cold, 
That  ove  mav  revel  in  luxury 

And  be  wrapped  in  its  silken  fold ; 
The  ninety  and  nine  in  their  hovels  bare, 

The  one  in  a  palace  with  riches  rare. 

They  toil  in  the  flfelds,  the  ninety  and  nine, 

For  the  fruits  of  our  mother  earth ; 
They  dig  and  delve  in  the  dusky  mine, 

And  bring  its  rich  treasures  forth; 
But  the  wealth  released  bv  their  sturdy  blows 

To  the  hands  of  ihe  one  for  ever  flows. 

By  the  sweat  of  their  brows  the  desert  blooms, 
And  the  forest  before  them  falls ;  ' 

Their  labor  has  builded  humble  homes, 
And  cities  with  lofty  halls ; 

But  the  one  owns  city,  and  homes  and  lands. 
And  the  ninety  and  nine  have  empty  hands. 

But  the  night,  so  dreary,  so  dark,  so  long. 

At  last  shall  the  morning  bring. 
And  over  the  land  the  victor's  song 

Of  the  ninety  and  nine  shall  ring. 
And  echo  afar,  from  zone  to  zone, 

'Rejoice !  for  labor  shall  have  i'S  own.'— ifrs.  S.  M.  SunAXh, 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  31 


A  FABLE. 

I  will  conclude  this  chapter  with  a  fable  which  illustrates  the  wisdom  and 
honesty  of  some  of  our  rulers. 

There  was  once  a  man  who  had  a  fat  goose  which  was  growing  fatter  every 
day.  At  last  it  became  so  heavy  that  it  could  hardly  sustain  itself  upon  its  hind 
legs.  The  owner  paw  that  the  goose  was  getting  too  heavy  for  its  "nether 
limbs."  He  determined  to  r  lieve  it  so  that  it  might  stand  up  better.  He 
accordingly  cat  off  one  of  its  hind  legs,  thinking  that  it  would  stand  more 
securely  on  the  other  foot,  without  having  its  strength  divided. 

When  he  had  finished,  he  was  surprised  to  find  that  the  goose  found  more 
difficulty  in  standing  on  one  foot  than  it  had  on  two.  But  he  concluded  that  all 
would  be  well  as  soon  as  the  goose  transferred  its  confidence  from  the  lost  leg  to 
the  one  it  had  left.  He,  therefore,  sat  down  to  wait  for  the  goose  to  transfer  its 
confidence. 

He  is  waiting  yet. 

THE   INTERPKETATION, 

The  fat  goose  is  the  commerce  of  the  country.  One  of  its  legs  represents 
the  gold,  and  the  other  the  silver  money  on  which  it  rests. 

The  commerce  has  grown  faster  than  gold  or  silver  can  be  mined,  so  that 
there  is  not  enough  money  to  support  the  commerce.  It  accordingly  gets  very 
shaky  whenever  the  wind  blows. 

The  Government  cuts  off  the  silver  money,  tmder  the  pretense  of  enabling 
the  commerce  to  stand  up  more  securely  on  the  gold  basis.  When  the  process 
began  there  were  520  business  failures  in  a  year.  When  the  process  was  com- 
pleted, there  were  about  the  same  number  in  a  week, 

But  the  Government  still  protests  that  its  pohcy  has  been  wise  and  states 
manlike.    It  glories  in  the  deed,  and  there  are  millions  of  smart  Americans  who 
still  think  it  folly  to  let  the  commercial  goose  have  two  feet  to  stand  on. 

'2^  a  mad  world  J  my  masters! 


CHAPTER  V. 

POLITICAL  CORRUPTION.— MONOPOLIES. 

I  have  shown  how  class  legislation  has  put  enormous  sums  of  money  in  the 
hands  of  a  few. 

The  great  Daniel  Webster  who,  being  dead  yet  speaketh,  tells  us  that— 

"A  free  Government  cannot  long  endure  where  the  tendency  of  laws  is  to 
concentrate  the  wealth  of  the  country  in  the  hands  of  the  few." 

By  the  use  of  this  ill-gotten  wealth,  crushing  monopolies  and  trusts  have 
been  organized,  which  rob  the  people  ui  every  shape  and  form. 

The  Rev.  T.  De  Witt  Talmagk  says : 

"The  overshadowing  curse  of  America  today  is  monopoly.  He  puts  his 
hands  upon  every  bushel  of  wheat,  every  sack  of  salt,  every  sack  of  flom:,  every 
tonofcoal.  andnotaman,  woman  or  child  in  America  but  feels  the  touch  of 
this  moneyed  despotism.  His  sceptre  is  made  out  of  the  iron  track  of  the 
railroading  and  the  wire  of  telegraphy.  He  proposes  to  have  e^/^y^^/J^f  ^Jf,  3 
wftv.  for  his  own  advantage  and  the  people's  robbery.    He  stands  in  the  railroad 


32  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


idepot,  and  puts  into  his  pocket  each  year  two  billion  dollars  beyond  the  reasoo- 
JAble  charge  for  his  services.  He  controls  nominations  and  elections,  city 
j  elections,  Ptate  elections.  He  has  the  Democratic  party  in  one  pocket  and  ti« 
Brfublican  party  in  the  other." 

Ab  a  result  of  this  there  is  probably  no  country  in  the  world  where  politics 
are  bo  corrupt  as  they  are  here  in  the  United  States  today. 

To  an  intelligent  foreigner,  one  of  the  most  astonishing  customs  in  this 
country  is  that  of  changing  all  the  sub-officials  when  a  new  party  comes  into  power. 

It  takes  several  years  for  an  inexperienced  man  to  become  proficient  in  his 
duties.  In  the  United  States,  when  a  man  has  been  in  office  about  long  enough 
to  know  the  ropes,  he  is  turned  out  and  another  greenhorn  put  in  his  place. 

Such  a  system  would  wreck  the  most  prosperous  business  in  the  world  inside 
of  ten  years. 

The  idea  seems  to  be  that  we  ought  to  give  everybody  a  chance — to  steal. 
For  one  result  of  this  idiotic  system  is  that  comparatively  few  hone«t  men  care  to 
run  for  pmlic  office?.  Many  of  thoee  who  obtain  positions,  knowing  that  they 
will  soon  be  removed,  however  well  thev  perform  their  duties,  begin  to  * 'feather 
their  nests"  in  every  possible  way.    "To  the  victors  the  spoils'*  is  the  cry. 

The  result  is  that  the  Government  expenses  of  the  country,  which  in 
Jefferson's  time  amounted  to  sixty  cents  per  head,  now  reach  seven  dollabs 
per  head.     [Be  iton's  Thirty  Years*  View,] 

The  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  once  said : 

"Onr  legislatures  have  been  bought  and  sold  till  we  think  no  more  of  it  than 
the  buying  and  selling  of  bo  many  cattle." 

liOTH  parties   corrupt. 

David  Davis  tells  us : 

••The  Repuolican  and  Democratic  parties  are  both  controlled  by  monopolists, 
and  neither  dare  assert  the  will  or  policy  of  its  constituents.*' 

When  the  vo'ers  g^t  disgusted  with  one  party,  they  go  over  to  the  other,  to 
^find  it  worse.    As  the  Rev.  T.  Dk  Witt  Talmage  says  in  his  Pathway  of  Lfe: 

**There  they  I'e  today,  the  Drtmocratic  party  and  the  Republican  party,  side 
by  side,  g'-eat  loith^ome  carcasses  of  iniquity,  each  one  worse  than  the  other." 

The  sanre  preacher  savs: 

**I  nev«r  so  much  believed  in  a  Republican  form  of  government  as  I  do 
todav,  for  the  single  reason  that  anv  otl  er  s'y'e  of  g  »vernment  would  have  been 
<'onpum'^d  I'^ne  aeo.    There  have  been  swindles   enacted  in  this  nation  within 

THE  LAST  thirty  YEARS  ENOUGH  TOSA^AMP  THREE  MONARCHIES." 

The  o  her  r^ay  it  was  openly  charged  that  a  number  of  Senators  bad  taken 
ad van^ag^  of  their  official  knowUd^'^  of  the  new  tariff  to  feather  their  own 
n«»Pts.  An  en  |uiry  was  asked  for,  and  the  S  nae  deliberately  voted  it  down. 
More  than  half  of  the  members  were  afraid  of  an  investigaiion.  Why  ?  Because 
they  were  scared  ]pb''  their  orim'-s  should  be  br>ujrat  to  light,  *-The  children  of 
darkness  ha^e  the  I'ght  becaupe  their  deeds  are  evil.*' 

Th«  puMic  clerkships  at  Washington  are  Bwarming  with  the  mispresses  of 
C^nare^-men  and  Senators.  The  immorality  of  Colonel  Breckenridge  is  not  the 
*^xception,  but  the  rul^.  The  highest  position  in  the  land  is  occupied  by  the 
fa»hpr  of  Maria  Hal  pin's  child. 

T^e  Saa  Franci>'CO  Exnminer  Paid,  sometime  ago: 

*,PArtie8  chang^^,  but  lea:ifilature^  remain  al  vavs  the  same.  The  late 
rnvlif  rnia)  Iipgifllature  was  Democratic  and  disreputable.  The  present  one  is 
K  pub  i<an,  and  from  all  ficconnts  it  is  likely  to  be  more  disreputable  than  iig 


BKEAKERS  AHEAD.  83 


predecessors.    ^    *    What  is  the  use  of  turning  out  one  set  of  rascals  to  make 
i-oom  for  another  V ' 

It  is  the  same  with  regard  to  municipal  matters.  Professor  Elliott,  of 
Harvard  University,  says  that  there  is  hardly  a  *'city  in  Europe  which  does  not 
immeasurably  excel  the  best  governed  of  American  cities." 

Federal,  state  and  municipal  politics  have  alike  got  to  be  fearfully  corrupt. 

MAMMON  IS. GOD. 

Commerce  has  been  badly  infected  thereby.  The  scramble  after  wealth  is 
fio  severe  that  all  other  objects  give  way  to  it.  Everything  is  run  for  the  money 
there  is  in  it.  Breaches  of  trust  are  so  common  as  to  attract  little  attention, 
except  among  those  who  lose  by  them. 

As  Walt  Whitman,  the  poet,  wrote,  not  long  before  he  died : 

*'We  New  Worlders  are  in  danger  of  turning  out  the  trickiest,  slyest,  cutest, 
most  cheating  people  that  ever  lived." 

Russell  Lowell  wrote  as  far  back  as  1876: 

•*  What  fills  me  with  dismay  is  the  degradation  of  the  moral  tone.  Is  it  or  is 
it  not  the  result  of  Democracy?  Is  ours  a  government  o/ the  people,  6y  the 
people, /or  the  people,  or  a  kakintocracy  rather,  for  the  benefit  of  knayes  at  the 
expense  of  foola  ?" 

gulling  the  people. 

Every  time  an  election  comes  on,  the  two  political  parties  (who  are  both 
dominated  by  the  money  power)  get  up  a  grand  excitement  about  the  tariff,  the 
fishery  question,  or  some  other  side  issus.  This  diverts  attention  from  the 
financial  question.  The  "bloody  shirt"  used  to  answer  this  purpose  splendidly, 
but  it  is  getting  too  ragged  and  threadbare  now.  Each  party  takes  one  side,  and ' 
they  make  a  grand  fight  over  it.    Whichever  party  wins,  goes  into  office  and 

DOES  AS  it  is  told  BY  ITS  MASTERS. 

Every  President  since  Lincoln  has  been  nominated  by  the  money  brokers  of 
Wall  street.  Cleveland  was  nominated  by  Whitney,  of  the  Standard  Oil  Trust, 
one  of  the  most  powerful  and  unscrupulous  monopolies  in  the  world. 

Harrison  was  nominated  by  C.  E.  Depew,  who  owns  $20,000,000  and  is 
President  of  the  Vanderbilt  system  of  railroads. 

The  Wall  street  brokers  pull  the  strings,  the  puppets  dance,  and  the  people 
think  the  rulers  are  doing  their  will. 

When  the  Republicans  were  enjoying  the  spoils  of  office,  they  made  laws  to 
suit  the  money  power,  whilst  they  consoled  the  manufacturers  with  high  tariffs, 
and  the  old  soldiers  with  pensions.  The  people  they  satisfied  by  proclaiming 
the  benefits  of  protection  from  "the  pauper  labor  of  Europe." 

The  Democrats  advocated  a  "tariff  for  revenue  only."  Not  being  able  tO; 
avoid  the  finance  question  altogether,  they  said  they  were  for  free  coinage  ofl 
silver,  but  worded  their  platform  so  ambiguously  that  it  might  be  understood  in; 
laeveral  different  ways.  On  this  account  the  Western  and  Southern  states  wentj 
Democratic  and  Cleveland  was  elected,  with  what  result  we  all  know  to  our  cost  J 

EEPUBLICAN  DESPOTS. 

The  United  States  are  supposed  to  form  a  Republic,  free  from  kingly 
Ifavoritism  or  imperial  despotism.  But  since  the  war  there  has  grown  upi 
amongst  us  an  army  of  kings  and  despots. 

We  have  over  us  the  money  king,  the  iron  king,  the  coal  king,  thecattlof 
Iking,  the  pork  king,  the  wheat  king,  the  corn  king,  the  lumber  king,  the  raikoad 
imagnate,  the  telegraph  monopoliBt,  and*the  coffin  despot. 


34  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


These  rule  the  people  with  rods  of  iron,  and  scourge  them  with  scorpionB. 

They  own  the  telegraphs,  the  great  press  associations,  and  the  leading, 
newspapers  and  magazines. 

They  control  large  numbers  of  Senators  and  Congressmen  as  well  as 'the 
political  orators,  the  pulpit  exhorters,  and  the  local  politicians. 

When  they  are  opposed  they  bribe  the  leaders  to  betray  the  rest. 

Whom  they  cannot  bribe  they  smash. 

When  the  law  favors  them  they  use  it,  and  where  it  opposes  them  they 
defy  it. 

They  take  the  food  out  of  the  mouths  of  the  hungry,  corner  the  coal  from  the 
freezdng.  take  the  medicine  from  the  sick,  and  rob  the  dead  for  a  coffin. 

They  are  now  encouraging  "Jingoism"  so  as  to  be  able  to  increase  the  army 
and  navy  that  are  to  keep  us  in  subjection. 

The  year  before  last  they  sent  soldiers  to  turn  us  out  of  our  homesteads  in 
Wyoming. 

They  hired  Pinkerton  detectives  (?)  to  shoot  us  down  at  Homestead. 

In  California  last  year  they  tried  to  sink  a  rival  ferry-boat  with  700 
passengers  on  board. 

For  a  long  time  they  ran  their  trains  through  the  streets  of  Oakland  at  25 
miles  an  hour  to  avoid  carrying  passengers  who  had  a  right  to  a  free  ride. 

When  an  American  war  ship  was  wrecked  the  other  day,  they  refused  to 
allow  their  vessel  to  go  and  save  the  crew  from  an  awful  death  until  they  got 
their  blood  money  from  the  Government. 

Such  deeds  are  not  the  deeds  of  men.  They  are  the  acts  of  demons  who 
have  escaped, /or  a  time^  from  the  fires  of  hell. 

THE  KAILEOAD  MONOPOLY. 

The  history  of  the  railroad  monopoly  in  this  country  is  enough  to  make 
one  despair  of  civilization. 

By  bribed  legislation  the  western  railroads  have  got  hold  of  280,000,000  acres 
of  the  finest  land  in  the  country. 

The  stock  on  which  they  draw  interest  has  been  watered  until  it  resembles 
city  milkj  composed  of  seven  gallons  of  water  to  three  of  milk.  To  draw  interedt 
on  this  diluted  stock  they  charge  rates  which  are  crushing  the  business  of  the 
country. 

THE  TRUSTS. 

The  food  trusts  are  perhaps  worse  than  the  railroad  monopoly,  for  they 
snatch  the  food  from  the  mouth  of  the  widow  and  orphan ;  they  rob  producer 
and  consumer  alike. 

Senator  Vest  says: 

"The  cattle-pool  of  Chicago  is  the  most  infamous  tyranny  that  exer  existed 
in  the  United  Slates." 

The  late  Senator  Plumb  said : 

*'For  years  the  prices  of  cattle  to  the  producers  had  been  going  down.  They 
had  gone  down  50  per  cent.  At  the  same  tim^'  the  price  of  meat  to  the  ronsumer 
had  gone  up,  and  every  single  dollar  of  the  differeace  had  gone  into  the  pocket& 
of  the  combination." 

In  two  years  490  trusts  were  organized,  dealing  with  almost  every  article  is 
use. 

foreign  ownership  of  k^nd. 

Manv  millions  of  acres  of  land  have  been  bought  by  foreign  millionaires, 
who  draw  princely  revenues  from  the  country.    [See  Appendix  I.] 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  35 


If  this  land  and  that  seized  by  the  railroads  bad  gone  to  the  people  in 
,  quarter  section  farms  (as  the  Government  intended  it  to  when  it  passed  the 
Homestead  laws)  the  country  would  have  been  full  of  happy  homes,  free  of  rent 
or  mortgage.  The  owners  of  these  homes  would  have  been  taken  from  the  labor 
market,  there  would  bave  baen  no  surplus  labor,  and  the  result  would  have  been 
i  higher  wages  and  steadier  employment  for  those  who  chose  to  work  for 
capitalists. 

FARM  MORTGAGES, 

The  burdensome  mortgages  which  are  rapidly  taking  the  farms  from  the 
farmers  and  handing  them  over  to  foreign  capitalists,  are  a  natural  result  of  the 
"Seven  F  nancial  Conspiiacies,"  and  the  monopolies,  tariffs  and  trusts  rendered 
possible  by  them. 

The  combines  secure  all  products  at  starvation  prices,  and  sell  them  at  as 
near  famine  prices  as  they  can,  very  often  pocketing  the  entire  profit  from  the 
labor  of  millions  of  producers. 

By  getung  farm  products  at  or  below  the  cost  of  production,  they  make  it 
utterly  impossible  to  pay  oflf  the  mortgages.  Every  year  something  like  70,000 
farms  fall  into  the  clutches  of  the  money  power  of  Wall  street  and  Europe. 

A  HAPPY  COUNTRY. 

This  is  indeed  a  Christian  nation,  and  we  live  in  a  grand  and  happy 
country! 

I  sometimes  wonder  what  Washington  thinks  of  it  all  as  he  look??  over  the 
ramparts  at  us.  And  methinks  I  can  see  the  face  of  the  martyr'd  Lincoln  grow 
unutterably  sad  as  he  recalls  his  unheeded  warning  that— 

"As  a  result  of  the  war  corporations  have  been  enthroned,  and  an  era  of 
corruption  in  high  places  will  follow,  and  the  money  power  of  the  country  will 
endeavor  to  prolong  its  reign  by  working  upon  the  prejudices  of  the  people  until 
all  wealth  is  aggregated  in  a  few  hands,  and  the  Republic  is  destroyed." 

His  fears  bid  fair  to  be  terribly  and  fearfully  realized  within  the  next  ten 
years. 

THE  CHURCH. 

We  have  in  this  country  an  institution  founded  by  a  Jewish  carpenter  who 
had  not  where  to  lay  his  head.  This  institution  is  supposed  to  be  working  for 
the  good  of  the  people. 

What  is  it  doing  to  stem  the  foul  tide  of  corruption  and  distress  which  is 
sweeping  over  the  country  ?  Why  does  it  not  arise  and  smite  the  privileged 
classes  who  have  robbed  the  people  of  their  birthright  ?  Is  it  possible  that  the 
church  is  a  believer  in  the  economic  system  which  has  produced  such  results? 

Is  it  content  to  sit  at  the  tables  of  the  predatory  rich,  and  let  the  people 
drift  into  slavery  ? 

Are  the  clergy  so  engrossed  with  the  celestial  kingdom  that  they  care  not  if 
the  earthly  Republic  becomes  a  hell?  Is  their  supreme  object  that  mouthed  by 
the  Republican  Benjamin  Harrison,  to  "make  the  poor  content  and  the  rich 
secure?"  Are  they  content  to  teach,  with  the  Democratic  New  York  World, 
that— 

"The  American  laborer  must  make  up  his  mind  not  to  be  so  much  better  off 
than  his  European  brother,  and  thereby  he  will  be  nearer  the  position  to  which  it 
.has pleased  God  [or  the  Devil?]  to  call  him," 

Do  they  expect  the  workers  of  America  to  sit  humbly  at  their  feet  and  le  arn 
from  them  the  prayer  of  the  English  Hodge : 

"Bless  the  Squire  and  his  relations, 
And  keep  us  in  our  proper  stations." 


36  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


If  so,  then  they  will  be  fearfully  and  wonderfully  undeceived  before  the 
twentieth  century  opens  up. 

Listen  to  the  words  of  one  of  your  own  number.    Dk.  Talmage  says : 

"If  the  church  of  God  does  not  show  itself  in  favor  of  the  great  mass  of  the ! 
people  as  well  as  in  favor  of  the  Lord,  the  time  will  come  when  the  church  as  an' 
institution  will  be  extinct,  and  Christ  will  go  down  again  to  the  beach  and' 
choose  twelve  plain  honest  fishermen  to  come  up  into  the  Apostleship  of  a  new 
dispensation  of  righteousness." 

Wake  up,  then,  ye  sleepy  ones,  rub  your  eyes  and  be  ye  no  more  blind 
leaders  of  the  blind. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  PEOPLE'S  PARTY.-ITS  ORIGIN. 

The  People^s  Party  was  started  the  summer  before  last,  by  reformers  who  had 
lost  hope  in  both  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties. 

Its  platform  was  adopted  at  Omaha  on  July  4,  1892. 

The  reforms  demanded  are  based  on  the  doctrines  of  the  great  Thomas 
Jefferson,  modified  to  meet  the  changed  conditions  of  today. 

As  soon  as  the  flag  was  raised  by  General  AVeaver  many-ten-thousands 
came  out  from  the  old  parties  and  rallied  round  it.  A  determined  attempt  was 
made  to  carry  the  election.  The  time  was  too  short,  though,  and  the  Democrats 
got  into  office. 

However,  more  than  a  million  votes  were  cast  in  its  favor.  The  failure  of 
the  Democrats  to  perform  their  promises,  and  the  unfavorable  attitude  taken  by 
Cleveland  towards  silver,  have  since  then  turned  millions  into  active  and 
enthusiastic  Populists. 

The  number  of  these  is  far  greater  than  one  would  suppose,  for  swarms  of 
the  most  energetic  Populists  are  still  compelled  to  wear  Cleveland  badges  on  the 
bosom  of  their  pants. 

Senator  Vance,  of  North  Carolina,  recently  said  of  the  Democratic  party : 

"You  will,  if  you  live  a  few  months  longer,  see  the  greatest  part  of  the 
party  delibprately  walk  out  of  itself,  leaving  nothing  behind;|but  a  smell  of  brim- 
stone and  Wall  street." 

The  Republican  party  is  in  the  same  fix.  No  one  who  has  carefully  read 
Mrs.  Emery's  "Seven  Financial  Conspiracies"  can  ever  conscientiously  vote  the 
Republican  ticket  again. 

,  To  show  what  folly  it  would  be  to  put  the  Republicsns  in  office  again  it  is 
sufficient  to  give  thf  ir  record  in  Congress  on  the  silver  question,  as  given  in  the 
Congressional  Record. 

During  the  la^t  eight  years  they  have  cast  146  votes  in  favor  of  silver,  and  705 
against  it.      [See  "Republicans  and  Silver,"  in  Appendix  H.] 

The  old  parties  are  fast  breaking  up,  and  two  fresh  parties  are  taking  their 
place.  One  of  these,  the  CAPITALIST  PARTY,  will  contain  all  the  money 
power  of  America,  backed  by  that  of  England,  and  all  whom  they  can  induce  to 
support  them. 

The  other  side  will  eventually  be  the  PEOPLE'S  PARTY. 


I 


^ BREAKERS  AHEAD.  37 

The  eastern  papers,  which  are  nearly  all  dominated  by  the  money  power, 
either  ignore  the  new  party  or  belittle  it  as  a  party  of  cranks. 

Yet  a  party  which  comes  into  existence  in  the  summer  and  polls  consider- 
llbly  over  a  million  votes  in  the  fall  cannot  be  ignored  much  longer.  Especially 
as  it  has  been  growing  faster  since  the  election  than  before  it. 

LYING  NEWS. 

At  the  elections  last  November,  the  Associated  Press  Association  sent  out 
elBction  blanks  which  did  not  contain  the  names  of  the  Populist  candidates.  They 
I  also  Bent  instructions  to  the  agents  to  fill  out  only  the  blanks  sent.  The  result 
!  wae  that  the  names  of  the  Populist  candidates  did  not  appear  in  the  leading 
newspapers.  The  editors  thereupon  wrote  editorials  philosophising  upon  the 
disappearance  of  the  new  party. 

•'the  populist  decline." 
The  Boston  Herald ^  for  example,  printed  an  article    on  "The   Populist 
Decline,"  in  which  it  was  stated  that — 

"We  find  no  justification  in  the  hopes  or  fears  thus  awakened  in  fhe  result 
of  the  elections.  There  is  tw)  evidence  of  Populists  at  all  in  Ohio  or  in  Iowa.  In 
!  Nebraska  they  are  getting  back  into  the  Bepublican  ranks,  or  preparing  to  join  the 
;  Democrats  (/)  Even  in  Colorado  it  is  doubtful  if  the  silver  issue  is  sufficient  to 
'  keep  them  out  of  the  old  parties.  In  the  south  the  Populist  movement  has 
never  been  much  more  than  a  bugbear.  The  vote  of  Virginia  this  year  shows 
that  it  is  not  even  equivalent  to  a  revival  of  Maboneism  in  that  state ;  all  hopes 
of  its  success  are  likely  to  die  out  in  South  Carolina,  and  it  will  have  no  more 
;than  a  still  birth  in  Alabama.  *  *  *  The  apprehension  as  to  permanence  in 
the  Populist  party  is  substantially  ended.  There  are  indications  already  that 
the  most  formidable  era  of  its  existence  is  over." 

LAST  November's  gains. 
After  a  time  the  truth  came  out,  in  spite  of  the  lyiog  news  venders,  and  it 
tamed  out  that  the  Populists  had  made  great  gains  in  every  state,  whilst  the 
old  parties  had  everywhere  declined— in  some  states  tremendously. 

To  take  the  states  referred  to,  in  Ohio  ("no  evidence")  the  Populist  vote 
only  advanced  from  14,850  to  16,237;  but  in  Iowa  ("no  evidence")  they  gained 
26  per  cent,  polling  over  23,500  votes. 

In  Kansas  ("preparing  to  join  the  Democrats")  the  Populists  polled  nearly 
90,000  votes,  whilst  the  Democrats  only  had  a  little  over  23,000. 

In  Nebraska  (ditto)  the  Populists  carried  41  counties  in  "92  and  57  last 
November. 

In  Colorado  t "doubtful  if  they  will  stay  out  of  the  old  parties")  the 
Populists  carried  about  30  counties  out  of  55,  and  carried  the  state  by  a 
plurality  of  6,000.     [See  New  Nation,  November  25,  1893.] 

Oh,  yes,  Mr.  Lying  News  Distributor,  the  People's  Party  is  going  back  fast. 
And  if  it  keeps  up  its  speed  the  people  will  be  in  power  again  in  '96,  for  the  first 
time  since  the  war. 

TROUBLE  AHEAD. 

But  it  is  over  two  years  before  the  next  Presidential  election,  and  many 
things  will  happen  before' they  have  a  chance  to  reverse  the  base  legislation  of 
the  last  thirty  years.  The  250,000  people  who  hold  three  quarters  of  the 
wealth  of  the  country  are  not  going  to  fold  their  arms. 

The  Kansas  elections  show  that  they  will  be  ready  to  stuff  every  ballot-box 
jin  the  country  if  it  should  be  necessary.  And  to  back  up  the  stuffed  ballot-box 
Jiy  the  sword  if  required. 


38  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


Supposing  that  this  should  fail,  they  can  afford  to  make  millionaires  o 
every  opposing  Senator  and  Oongreseman  to  vote  as  their  tools.  Or  they  can 
do  as  Whitelaw  Raid's  New  York  Tribune  suggested.    This  paper  said : 

"A  VERY  GOOD  THING  HAS  BEEN  DONE.  Tuc  machinery  is  now  furnished  by 
which,  in  an  emergency,  the  financial  corporations  of  the  east  can  act  together 
on  a  single  day's  notice  with  such  power  that  no  act  op  Congress  can  ovbbcomb 

OR  RESIST  THEIR   DECISION." 

That  is  1o  say  that  if  they  cannot  control  the  law  they  will  defy  it.  So  there 
is  bound  to  be  trouble  however  things  go. 

DEMO  REPUBLICAN  PLATFORMS. 

The  Republican  platform  of  '92  contained  1,453  words,  and  the  Democratic 
had  2,756.  They  were  written  by  men  of  wealth,  education  and  culture,  yet  as 
specimens  of  composition,  intended  to  convey  a  certain  meaning,  they  were 
utterly  and  diabolically  abominable.  Tiiey  were  so  written  that  they  could  be 
understood  in  several  different  ways,  and  it  was  the  deliberate  intention  of 

THOSE  who  composed  THEM  THAT  THEY  SHOULD  MISLEAD    THE   PEOPLE  and  yCt  leaVO 

a  way  of  escape  from  any  reforms  which  they  might  be  indisposed  to  grant. 

If  the  reader  does  not  agree  with  me  in  the  charge  that  these  platforms 
were  deliberately  intended  to  deceive  the  people,  there  is  only  one  other 
explanation  he  can  give  to  the  cumbersome,  ungrammatical,  wriggling,  two- 
faced  and  meaningless  sentences.  And  that  is  that  those  who  framed  them 
WERE  IGNORANT  AND  INCOMPETENT  MEN.  Plcasc  examine  the  second  sentence  in 
the  seventh  article  of  the  Democratic  platform  (quoted  in  Chapter  III)  and 
decide  as  to  which  is  the  true  explanation. 

Grover  Cleveland  has  already  found  the  centipedal  tape-wormism  of  that 
hundred-and-eleven-word  sentence  extremely  useful. 
POPULIST  PLATFORM. 

The  Populist  platform,  on  the  other  hand,  contained  only  318  words,  so 
arranged  that  every  sentence  had  one  distinct  meaning  and  could  not  be  mis- 
construed.   Here  it  is,  preceded  by  a  short  Declaration  of  Principles. 


People's  Party  Platform. 

FOUNDATION    PRINCIPLES 

First. — That  union  of  the  labor  forces  of  the  United  States  this  day 
•or.summated  shall  be  permanent  and  perpecuai;  may  lis  tpirit  enter  all  hearts 
lor  Llie  salvation  of  the  Republic  and  the  uplifting  of  mankind. 

Second. — Wealth  belongs  to  him  who  creates  it,  and  every  dollar  taken 
from  industry  without  an  equivalent  is  robbery^  **If  anv  will  not  work,  neitht-r 
s  ball  he  eat."  The  interests  of  rural  and  civic  labor  are  the  same ;  their  interests 
are  identical. 

Third. — We  believe  that  the  time  has  come  when  the  railroad  corporations 
ill  eitner  own  the  people  or  the  people  must  own  the  railroads,  and  should  the 
(i  »vernment  enter  upon  the  wo?k  of  owning  or  managing  any  or  all  of  the 
r-iiroads,  we  should  favor  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  by  which  all 
!>eraoQfi  engaged  in  the  Government  service  shall  be  placed  under  a  civil  service 
gulat.ion  oi  the  most  rigid  character,  so  as  to  prevent  the  increa:-e  of  the  power 
<A  the  national  administration  by  the  use  of  such  additional  government 
employes. 

THE  POPULIST  PLATFORM 
Finance. — We  demand  a  national  currency,  safe,  sound  and  flexible,  issued 
by  the  general  Government  only,  a  full  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public  and 
private,  and  that  without  the  use  oi  banking  corporations,  a  just,  equitable 


r. 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  39 


and  efiQcient  means  of  distribution  direct  to  the  people  at  a  tax  not  to  exceed  2 1 
per  cent  per  annum,  to  be  provided  as  set  forth  in  the  sub-treasury  plan  of  ihe 
Farmers' Alliance,  or  a  better  system;  also  by  paymants  in  discharge  of  its 
oWigations  for  public  improvements. 

We  demand  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  and  gold  at  the  present 
legal  ratio  of  16  to  1. 

We  demand  that  the  amount  oi  drculating  medium  be  speedily  increased  to 
not  less  than  $50  per  capita. 

We  demand  a  graduated  income  tax. 

We  believe  that  the  money  of  the  country  should  be  kept,  as  much  as 
possible,  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  hence  we  demand  that  all  state  andi 
national  revenues  shall  be  11  nited  to  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  Government, 
economically  and  honestly  administered. 

We  demand  thut  Postal  Savings  Banks  be  established  by  the  Government 
lor  the  safe  deposit  of  the  earnings  of  the  people  and  to  facilitate  exchange. 

Transportation. — Transportation  being  a  means  of  exchange  and  a  public 
necessity,  the  Government  should  own  and  operate  the  railroads  in  the  interest 
of  the  people. 

The  telegraph  and  telephone,  like  the  postoffice  system,  b^ing  a  necessity 
for  the  transmission  of  news,  should  be  owned  and  operated  by  the  Government 
in  the  interest  of  all. 

Land. — The  land,  including  all  the  natural  sources  of  wealth,  is  the 
heritable  of  the  people,  and  should  not  be  monopolized  for  speculative  purposes, 
and  alien  ownership  of  land  should  be  prohibited.  All  1  .nd  now  held  by 
railroad  and  other  corporations  in  excess  of  their  actual  needs,  and  all  landB 
now  owned  by  aliens  should  be  reclaime«l  by  the  Government  and  held  for 
Actual  settlers  only. 

This  platform  does  not  profess  to  be  infallible.  Indvod  it  is  certain  to  be 
more  or  less  modified  at  the  next  National  Populist  Convention,  to  briug  it  more 
in  line  with  the  various  labor  organizations.  The  principlts,  how  ver,  will  be 
the  same,  the  chief  alterations  boing  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  to  the  front  the 
most  important  and  pressing  reforms. 

First  and  foremost  amongst  these  alterations  will  be  to  put  at  the  head  of 
the  platform  the  Swiss  system  of  the 

INITIATIVE  AND  REFERENDUM. 

Without  it  the  officials  in  power  will  be  able,  if  so  di-posed,  to  prevent 
legislation  which  the  people  demand.  It  is  tht  only  plan  which  will  destroy 
bribery — by  making  it  unable  to  influence  legislation.  The  following  description 
of  it  is  by  a  writer  in  the  Missouri  World, 

"By  the  "Initiative"  it  is  to  be  understood  that  the  people  are  empowered 
to  initiate  or  introduce  laws  directly  without  tor  intervention  of  any  legislative 
body.  For  example,  if  a  certain  percentage,  say  five  {■  rcent,  of  the  voters  of  a 
state  or  nation,  were  to  sign  a  petition  in  favor  of  the  enactment  of  a  |,iven  law, 
then  it  should  be  the  duty  of  the  Governor  or  President,  respectively  to  order  at ' 
the  next  election  a' popular  vote  taken  upon  the  proposed  law  (or  proposed 
amendment  to  the  Constitution)  and  if  a  m.ajority  of  the  voters  would  vote  for 
the  proposed  measure,  it  should  become  a  law  and  be  enforced  without  any 
further  ceremony.  ,   ,        .,     ^     _  ^ 

By  the  "Referendum"  is  meant  that  laws  passed  by  the  Legislature  or 
Congress  should  be  referred  to  the  people  of  the  state  or  nation  respectively,  to 
be  ratified  or  rejected  at  the  ballot-box;  in  other  words,  that  the  people  should 
'.have  a  veto  power  upon  the  acts  of  Legislatures  or  Congress  There  are  two  { 
kinds  of  referendum,  namely,  the  optional  and  the  obligatory.  Under  the  optional 
referendum,  laws  passed  by  legislators  are  only  submitted  to  popular  vote  if  a 


40  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


certain  percentage  of  voters  demand  it  by  petition,  while  under  the  obligatory 
referendum  measures  passed  by  representatives  are  referred  to  the  voters  for 
approval  or  defeat  at  tne  ballot-box  without  any  special  petition. 

In  some  states  of  Switzerland  the  people  have  eatablished  the  obligatory 
referendum  partly,  by  putting  a  demand  in  their  state  constitution  that  such 
measures  as  would  create  additional  offices,  increase  established  salaries  of 
officers,  change  taxation  laws,  create  bonded  indebtedness,  etc.,  all  be  put  to 
popular  vote  withont  special  petition." 

One  of  the  advantages  of  the  Initiative  and  *teferendum  is  that  by  their 
means  the  liquor  question,  female  suffrage,  etc.,  can  be  settled  by  the  people 
themselves,  without  any  party  suffering  from  the  prejudices  of  interested  classes. 

The  San  Francisco  Examiner  (which  has  the  largest  circulation  of  any  paper 
on  the  Pacific  slope)  speaking  of  the  Initiative  and  Referendum,  says : 

"If  the  people  are  once  given  the  right  to  vote  for  measures  instead  of  merely 
iofill  offices,  they  will  make  advances  within  five  years,  which  would  be  impossible 
under  our  present  political  system  in  less  than  Ji/^jr." 

THE  IMPERATIVE  MANDATE. 

A  necessary  adjunct  to  the  Initiative  and  Referendum  is  the  Imperative 
Mandate — the  right  to  recall  officers  and  legislators  whose  public  acts  have 
become  unsatisfactory. 

FOUR   ESSENTIAL  EIGHTS. 

In  every  true  Democracy  the  voters  have  four  essential  rights,  viz : 

First.— The  right  of  representation. 

Second. — ^The  right  to  initiate  laws. 

Third. — ^The  right  to  accept  or  reject  laws. 

Fourth. — The  right  to  recall  traitors. 

At  present,  the  only  right  our  voters  have  is  that  of  (mis)  representation. 

As  George  S.  Tappan  says : 

"We  vote  for  representatives  over  whom,  without  the  Initiative,  we  have  no 
power  of  direction  ;  without  the  Referendum,  no  power  of  restraint;  and  without 
the  Imperative  .Mandate,  no  power  of  recaZi  for  betrayal  of  trust."  [The  Battle 
Wor  Human  Bights.  ] 

Many  of  our  would-be  legislators  are  ready  to  kiss  the  feet  of  the  voters 
(before  the  election.    They  promise  anything  and  everything.    But  once  elected, 
they  do  as  they  please.    If  remonstrated  with,   tney  simply  turn  away  and 
request  the  voters  to  do  tjtie  kissing.    They  tell  the  dissatiafied  electors  to  go  to- 
hell,  and  continue  to  draw  their  salaries  and  betray  their  trusts. 

The  system  reminds  one  of  a  lunatic  who  whips  up  his  horses  and  then 
throws  away  the  lines. 

At  present  the  referendum  is  given  to  the  President  instead  of  to  the  peoples^ 
> themselves.    This  would  make  our  government  an  Elective  Monarchy. 

But  as  the  money  kings  control  the  President,  it  is  virtually  an  Oligarchy  of 
the  basest  kind.  We  might  as  well  pretend  that  a  green  cheese  is  the  Queen  of 
Heaven,  as  to  say  that  our  present  sham  Republic  is  a  true  Democracy. 

England  is  a  Limited  Monarchy,  handicapped  by  a  tribe  of  Royal  Paupers,  an. 
;  upper  house  of  Hereditary  Fools,  and  other  relics  of  feudal  barbarism.  Yet  ehsr 
'ia  undoubtedly  a  better  Republic  today  than  this  country  is. 

I  lived  there  for  many  yeais  and  know  whereof  I  speak. 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  41 


CHAPTER  VII. 

POPULIST  PLATFORM   DISCUSSED. 

Those  who  wish  to  study  lihe  aims  of  the  Populists  should  get  a  little 
pamphlet  by  D.  A.  Reynolds,  of  Lansing,  Michigan,  entitled  **Demands  of  the 
People's  Party." 

I  can  here  only  say  a  few  words  about  the  different  plants  of  the  platform. 

It  is  m  three  main  sections,  entitled  Finance,  Transportation  and  Land. 
FINANCE.— FIRST  PLANK. 

'•We  demand  a  national  currency,  safe,  sound  and  flexible,  issued  by  the 
general  Government  only,  a  full  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public  and  private, 
and  that  without  the  use  of  banking  corporations,  a  just,  equitable  and  efficient 
means  of  distribution  direct  to  the  people  at  a  low  tax  not  to  exceed  2  per  cent 
per  annum  to  be  provided  as  set  forth  in  the  sub-treasury  plan  of  the  Farmers' 
Alliance  or  a  better  system ;  also  by  payments  in  discharge  of  its  obligations  for 
public  improvements." 

The  currency  should  be  "national,"  like  coin  and  greenbacks  are  now.  It 
should  all  be  "full  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public  and  private."  It  will  then 
be  "safe,  sound  end  flexible."  It  should  be  "issued  by  the  general  Government 
only,  without  the  use  of  banking  corporations." 

At  present  the  National  Banks  can  buy  6  per  cent  bonds  from  the  Govern- 
ment, and  then  get  nine-tenths  of  their  money  back  in  National  Bank  notes  at  1 
percent,  to  lend  to  the  people  at  10  or  12  per  cent.  In  this  way  they  escapb 
TAXATION  and  get  two  interests  from  the  same  investment,  amounting  to  15  or  1& 
per  cent. 

The  above  plan  would  prevent  this  thievish  arrangement,  as  well  as  the  far 
more  dangerous  power  the  banks  at  present  have  of  controlling  the  money 
market  to  suit  their  speculations.    Thomas  Jefferson  said : 

"I  believe  that  the  banking  institutions  are  more  dangerous  to  our  liberties 
than  standing  armies.  *  *  *  l"he  issuing  power  should  be  taken  from  the 
banks  and  restored  to  the  Government  and  the  people  to  whom  it  properly 
belongs.     Let  banks  exist,  but  let  them  bank  upon  coin  or  treasury  notes." 

Andrew  Jackson,  in  speaking  of  the  right  to  issue  money,  said  : 

"If  Congress  has  the  right  under  the  Constitution  to  issue  paper  money,  it 
was  given  them  to  be  used  by  themselves,  not  to  be  delegated  to  individuals  or 
corporations." 

John  C.  Calhoun  said : 

"Place  the  money  in  the  hands  of  a  single  individual  or  combination,  and 
tbey,  bv  expanding  or  contracting  the  currency,  may  raise  or  sink  prices  at 
PLEASURE,  and  by  purchasing  at  the  greatest  depress  ion  and  selling  at  the 
greatest  elevation,  may  command  the  whole  property  and  industry  of  the  com- 
munity and  control  its  fiscal  operations.  Never  was  an  engine  better  calculated 
to  place  the  destiny  of  the  many  in  the  hands  of  the  few." 

James  A.  Garfield,  speaking  to  this  point,  said  : 

"The  power  that  controls  the  issue  and  volume  of  currency  is  absolute 
dictator  of  the  business  and  finances  of  the  country." 

And  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  Lincoln,  lived  to 
say: 

"My  agency  in  procuring  the  passage  of  the  National  Bank  Act  was  th© 
greatest  financial  mistake  of  my  life.  It  has  built  up  a  monopoly  that  affect© 
©very  interest  in  the  country.  It  should  be  repealed.  But  before  this  can  be 
done  the  people  will  be  arrayed  on  one  side,  and  the  banks  on  the  other,  in  a 
contest  such  ^s  we  have  never  before  seen  in  this  country." 


42  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


The  proposition  to  lend  money  direct  to  the  people  at  2  per  cent  is  infinitely 
"better  than  the  present  criminal  plan  of  lending  it  to  the  banks  at  1  per  cent, 
and  allowing  them  to  get  12  or  more  per  cent  for  it  from  the  people.  It  is  not  a 
new  plan,  for  in  France  the  Government  builds  storehouses  and  allows  the 
iarmers,  etc.,  to  store  their  wheat  or  other  products  at  a  nominal  charge.  It  gives 
them  warehouse  receipts  which  have  the  value  of  money. 

The  final  proposition  to  distribute  the  currency  not  to  the  rich  bankers  as 
CHARITY,  but  to  the  people  themselves  in  discharge  of  its  obligations  for  public 
improvements,  will  commend  itself  to  every  honest  citizen. 

SECOND   PLANK. 

We  demand  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  and  gold  at  the  present 
legal  ratio  of  16  to  1. 

That  is,  we  demand  that  gold  and  silver  be  put  on  an  equal  footing  again  as 
they  were  before  the  demonetization  trickery  of  '73.  This  would  at  once  put 
commerce  on  two  feet  again,  and  raise  the  price  of  every  commodity  to  some- 
thing like  its  old  figure,  without  raising  the  amount  of  interest  to  be  paid  on 
mortgages  or  bonds. 

The  President's  fixed  salary  of  $50,000  would  then  be  equal  to  the  same 
number  of  bushels  of  wheat  that  it  was  equal  to  before  the  demonetization  of 
silver.  At  present  it  is  worth  more  than  twice  as  many  bushels  as  when  the 
amonnt  was  fixed  by  Congress.    The  same  is  true  of  all  fixed  salaries. 

SILVER  AND   WHEAT. 

Some  people  dispute  the  statement  that  the  low  price  of  wheat,  etc.,  is  due 
to  the  low  price  of  Bilver.    Let  ua  examine  the  question  for  a  moment. 

Since  1872  an  ounce  of  silver  has,  in  comparison  with  gold,  been  forced 
down  from  $1  32  to  60  cents  by  its  demonetization  in  the  United  States.  But, 
viN  comparison  with  other  products  it  has  still  the  SAME  VALUE.  It  wiU  buy 
the  same  quantity  of  wheat,  corn,  cotton,  etc.  The  consequence  is  that  where 
there  is  no  gold  money  to  compare  it  with  it  is  still  worth  $1.32.  So  it  will  still 
buy  a  bushel  of  wheat  in  India,  the  same  as  it  would  in  '72.  And  if  60  cents' 
worth  of  silver  will  buy  a  bushel  of  wheat  in  India,  it  will  buy  the  same  quantity 
here. 

Therefore  the  American  farmer  is  going  to  get  fooled  if  he  expects  to  get 
living  prices  for  his  wheat,  cotton  or  corn,  whilst  silver  is  being  held  down  at  60 
■cents  an  ounce. 

There  is  one  cure  for  this  state  of  things,  and  that  is  as  simple  as  rolling  off 
a  log.  It  is  for  the  United  States  Congress  to  pass  a  bill  restoring  the  free 
coinage  of  silver  at  the  old  ratio  of  16  to  1.    Pass  that  bill  today — 

**And  in  ten  days  from  this  time  the  skies  will  brighten,  business  will  resume 
its  ordinary  course,  and  'the  clouds  that  lower  upon  our  house  will  be  in  the 
deep  bosom  of  the  ocean  buried.'  " 

Aye,  and  not  only  that,  but  the  Liverpool  merchants,  not  being  able  to  get 
any  cheap  silver  to  bay  wheat  with  in  India,  will  once  more  have  to  pay  our 
farmers  something  like  $1.32  a  bushel,  which  the  India  farmers  have  been 
practically  getting  right  along.  Then  our  farmers  will  be  able  to  pay  off"  their 
mortgages  and  be  once  more  free  men,  with  homes  of  their  own. 

But  don't  be  deceived.  Nothing  but  ABSOLUTELY  FREE  COINAGE  AT 
16  TO  1  will  do  this. 

THIRD   PLANK. 

"We  demand  that  the  amount  of  circulating  medium  be  speedily  increased 
to  not  less  than  $50  per  capita." 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  43 


Even  then  it  would  not  be  equal  to  what  we  had  at  the  close  of  the  war.  As 
there  is  not  sufficient  gold  and  silver  mined  to  make  this  amount,  part  of  it  would 
be  in  Teeasury  notes  or  greenbacks,  with  no  exception  clause  to  defile  them. 

What  the  producers  want  is  plenty  of  money,  good  prices  and  low  interest. 

Of  all  the  absurd  ideas  the  old  parties  have  ever  tried  to  foist  on  a  credulous 
people,  the  most  absurd  is  that  they  require  "a  doll.vr  with  a  high  purchasing 
TOWEB."  The  producer  has  to  buy  this  dollar  with  his  labor,  and  if  it  has  a  high 
porcbaeing  power  he  will  have  to  work  so  much  longer  to  get  hold  of  it.  Is  not 
^his  plain  enough  7 

FOURTH  PLANK. 

"We  demand  a  graduated  income  tax." 

*'0h  no,  we  don't,"  say  the  millionaires  and  their  hangers  on.  **We  would 
very  much  prefer  that  the  revenues  of  the  country  should  be  raised  by  a  high 
tariff,  because  the  poor  man  pays  almost  all  of  that.  Furthermore,"  say  these 
millionaires,  "if  we  have  to  pay  an  income  tax,  we  shall  give  false  returns 
4X>nceming  the  amount  of  our  incoihes,  and  we  have  already  enough  to  answer 
lor  before  the  throne  of  the  Almighty  without  being  compelled  to  still  further 
perjure  our  souls." 

Several  old  world  nations  derive  a  part  of  their  revenues  from  an  income 
tax.    England  now  collects  $77,000,000  a  year  from  this  source. 

For  the  nine  years  ending  in  1871  an  income  tax  was  in  force  in  this  country. 
During  that  time  nearly  $350,000,000  were  collected.  The  monied  men  of 
course  never  liked  it,  and  at  last  they  succeeded  in  getting  it  repealed. 

INCOME,  NINE  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTY  DOLLARS  AN  HOUR. 

It  is  estimated  tnat  William  Waldorf  Asteb  has  an  income  of  nearly  nine 
million  dollars  per  annum.  This  is  at  the  rate  of  $23,000  per  day,  or  $16  per 
minute,  night  and  day,  summer  and  winter  alike. 

With  a  high  tariff  and  no  income  tax,  this  man  has  practically  no  taxes  to 
pay  to  the  Government  which  keeps  the  hungry  mob  from  tearing  him  to  pieces 
and  taking  from  him  the  wealth  which  they,  and  not  he,  produced. 

INCOME,  FOUR  CENTS   AN   HOUR. 

At  the  same  time,  the  laboring  man,  who  has  produced  his  share  of  tnis 
wealth,  toils  from  early  dawn  to  dark,  and  the  dollar  which  he  earns  in  a  day 
has  more  than  a  quarter  of  its  purchasing  power  destroyed  by  the  high  tariff. 
He  has  to  pay  more  for  almost  everything  he  eata,  drinka  and  wears. 

I  have  lived  in  boih  free  trade  and  protectionist  countries  and  know  what  I 
am  talking  about. 

The  rich  man  receives  greater  services  from  the  Government  than  the  poor 
man,  and  he  is  better  able  to  pay  for  that  service.  Therefore,  tbe  larger  the 
income  the  heavier  should  he  be  taxed.  On  the  largest  incomes  even  if  the  tax 
be  made  high,  the  owners  thereof  will  still  have  several  millions  of  dollars  a  year 
to  buy  their  groceries  with.  The  millionaires  can  onlv  get  three  things  with 
their  money— food,  clothing  and  shelter.  And  when  they  die  they  will  not  need 
to  take  their  wealth  with  them  to  buy  clothing  and  shelter  with. 

The  smallest  incomes  should  be  free,  and  the  tax  might  be  half  of  1  per  cent 
on  $1,000, 1  per  cent  on  $5,000,  2  per  cent  on  $10,000,  and  so  on. 

As  to  wealthy  men  giving  false  returns  of  their  incomes,  we  have  laws  for 
the  punishment  of  perjury,  and  we  have  penitentiaries  all  over  the  land  built 
expressly  for  those  who  break  our  laws. 


4*  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


There  are  some  who  think  that  a  graduated  income  tax  would  not  be  just  to 
the  extremely  wealthy.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  every  cent  of  the 
wealth  owned  by  these  "giants  of  the  mountains'*  was  created  by  the  "pigmies 
of  the  valley." 

The  people  have  toiled  on  the  plains  and  in  the  mines.  They  have  sown 
the  seed  and  reaped  the  crop,  only  to  find  the  harvest  snatched  from  their  hand^ 
by  thope  who  professed  to  be  distributing  it  for  them. 

When  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  sold  a  gun  to  the  Indians,  its  agents  set 
the  gun  up  on  end,  and  packed  the  Indian's  beaver  skins  on  each  side  of  it  till 
they  reached  the  muzzle.  They  then  took  the  skins  and  let  the  Indian  take  the 
gun.  The  cupidity  of  the  company  led  it  to  make  the  gun  a  little  longer  every 
year,  so  that  it  might  get  more  skins  for  it. 

In  the  same  way  the  speculators  who  have  been  distributing  our  products 
have  been  quietly  getting  the  Government  to  lengthen  the  golden  yardstick  so 
that  it  now  measures  out  to  them  twice  the  amount  of  wheat,  corn,  cotton,  etc.,. 
we  had  agreed  to  sell  them  for  a  dollar. 

It  should  also  be  remembered  that  millionaires  ere  undesirable  citizens, 
Horace  Mann  says  of  them : 

"The  millionaire  of  today  is  as  dangerous  to  society  as  was  the  baronial 
lord  of  the  middle  ages." 

Some  people  seem  to  think  that  we  ought  to  be  thankful  that  w6  have 
millionaires  to  give  employment  to  labor.    This  is  all  a  mistake. 

"It  is  labor  that  gives  life  and  value  to  capital.  It  is  labor  that  creates  the 
products,  the  exchange  ot  which  gives  employment  to  money." 

It  is  labor  that  consumes  these  same  products,  and  it  is  labor  that  pays  not 
only  the  workmen's  wages,  but  also  the  interest,  rent  and  profit  of  the  capitalist. 

As  Abraham  Lincoln  says : 

•'Labor  is  prior  to  and  independent  of  capital.  Capital  is  only  the  fruits  oi 
labor,  and  could  not  have  existed  had  not  labor  first  existed." 

The  millionaire  produces  no  wealth,  but  is  like  the  dog  in  the  manger, 
unable  to  eat  the  food  it  contains,  yet  keeping  the  toiling  masses  from  getting 
the  just  reward  of  their  labor. 

If  a  citizen  of  a  well  regulated  world  were  to  visit  our  globe  he  would  be 
horrified,  sickened  and  disgusted  by  what  he  saw  here.  The  probability  is  that 
his  sense  of  justice  would  prompt  him  to  try  to  drag  the  dog  out  of  the  manger 
and  hang  the  brute  on  the  nearest  telegraph  pole. 

If  the  millionaires  did  not  like  to  pay  their  just  taxes,  they  would  have  the 
privilege  of  going  to  some  land  where  the  people  prefer  slavery  to  liberty.  We 
could  get  along  very  well  without  them,  for  they  could  not  take  the  real  wealth 
of  the  country  with  them,  and  we  should  not  then  see  so  many  Benedict 
Arnolds  amongst  our  leaders. 

FIFTH    PLANK. 

"We  believe  that  the  money  of  the  country  should  be  kept  as  much  as- 
possible  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  nence  we  demand  that  all  state  and 
national  revenues  shall  be  limited  to  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  Government 
economically  and  honestly  administered." 

Both  of  the  old  parties  have  professed  to  favor  economy  and  retrenchment, , 
but  the  Republican  billion-dollar  Congress  which  so  disgusted  their  opponents,  j 
.has  been  followed  by  a  Democratic  one  still  more  wasteful  and  extravagant. j 

In  contrast  with  this  I  would  like  to  call  attention  to  the  change  which^haa/ 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  45 


taken  place  in  Kansas  since  the  Populists  got  into  power  there.  The  state 
expenses  have  been  cut  down  to  one-half,  and  the  railroads  have,  for  the  first 
time,  been  compelled  to  pay  their  proper  proportion  of  the  taxes. 

.« SIXTH    PLANK. 

"We  demand  that  postal  savmgs  banks  be  established  by  the  Govern- 
ment for  the  safe  deposit  of  the  earnings  of  the  people  and  to  facilitate  exchange."' 

I  lived  for  many  years  in  a  country  where  postal  savings  banks  are  nowj 
ancient  institutions,  and  I  assert  without  fear  of  contradiction  that  they  have 
saved  millions  from  poverty  and  want.  They  are  the  best  possible  schools  for^ 
teaching  the  habit  of  saving. 

In  Great  Britain,  where  they  have  been  established  for  32  years,  the  depositors, 
number  one  quarter  of  the  population,  and  the  deposits  amount  to  over  a. 
hundred  million  dollars.  The  school  children  there  save  up  $300,000  a  year  in 
this  way.  Even  in  the  midst  of  the  most  disastrous  panics,  these  Government, 
banks  are  unafiected. 

'•In  the  whole  history  of  Postal  Savings  Banks,  there  ha?  not  been  the  loss 
of  a  single  dollar,  and  the  system  has  come  to  be  looked  upon  as  the  safest  yet 
devised."    [D.  A.  Reynolds.] 

The  nation  which  has  not  yet  introduced  Postal  Savings  Banks  is  in 
this  respect  unenlightened  and  non-progressive.    Even  Russia  has  them. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

POPULIST  PLATFORM.— CONTINUED 

TKANSPOBTATION, 

The  first  plank  of  the  transportation  section  is  as  follows : 

•'Transportation  being  a  means  of  exchange  and  public  necessity,  the 
Glovernment  should  own  and  operate  the  railroads  in  the  interest  of  the  people." 

It  is  a  sound  maxim  of  political  economy  that  "all  natural  monopolies 
should  be  owned  and  operated  in  the  interest  of  the  people." 

Chief  Justice  Black,  in  one  of  his  decisions,  declared  that — 

"A  railroad  is  a  public  highway  for  the  public  benefit." 

His  decision  has  never  been  questioned,  and  all  railroad  legislation  takes 
this  for  granted.  But  for  the  government  to  own  and  operate  the  railroads  is 
another  thing. 

There  are  people  who  say  that  railroads  cannot  be  profitably  and  satis- 
factority  carried  on  by  the  Government.  In  anss^er  to  this  it  is  sufficient  to  say 
tliat  they  are  already  carried  on  satisfactorily,  economically  and  profitably  by 
the  government  in  difl'erent  parts  of  the  world.  And  that  in  this  country  they  i 
are  not  carried  on  by  the  private  companies  either  satisfactorily,  economically  or 
profitably,  especially  so  far  as  the  people  are  concerned. 

In  GERIilANY  almost  all  the  railroads  were  acquired  by  the  Government  in 
1881.  Wages  have  been  almost  doubled,  and  the  fare  is  one  cent  for  four  miles.  • 
The  following  item  appeared  the  other  day  in  the  Golden  State: 

"Professor  Sering,  of  Berlin,  who  was  sent  here  by  the  German  Govern- 
ment to  study  and  report  upon  our  agricultural  and  industrial  conditions,  states 


v46  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


that  the  entire  German  people  are  now  convinced  of  the  wisdom  of  the  change, 
and  while  there  is  more  or  less  diecussion  in  the  legislative  body  regarding 
railroad  administration,  no  voice  is  ever  raised  in  favor  of  a  return  to  the  old 
system.  Rates  have  been  largely  reduced,  interest  on  bonds  paid,  sinking 
funds  provided  for,  a  large  portion  of  school  tax  paid  out  of  the  earnings,  and 
there  is  now  a  surplus  of  $25,000,000  on  hand.  'But  tlie  best  part  of  the  system, '^ 
say«  Professor  Serine, 'is  the  complete  abolition  of  discrimination;  all  men  are 
treated  exactly  alike,  no  one  phipper  has  an  advantage  over  another.  Were 
there  no  other  advantage,  even  if  in  other  respects  the  present  system  was  not 
so  desirable  as  the  old,  this  one,  with  its  even  handed  justice  to  all,  would 
instantly  silence  any  demand  that  might  be  made  for  a  return  to  private 
ownersbip.' " 

D.  A.  Reynolds  in  his  "Demands"  says : 

"AUSTRALIA,  which  has  the  most  extensive  railroad  system  in  proportion 
to  inhabitants  of  any  country  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  has  paid  for  her  railways 
from  the  earnings  of  the  roads  in  ten  years,  and  for  the  last  three  years  has 
appropriated  their  net  earnings  to  the  support  of  the  Government,  reducing 
national  taxation  nearly  one-half.  This  has  been  done  with  a  reduction  of 
freight  rates  to  one-half  of  the  former  rates,  and  the  reduction  of  passenger 
rales  to  one-half  cent  per  mile,  or  one  guinea  for  a  thousand  mile  ticket." 

Fellow  citizens,  how  would  you  like  to  be  able  to  ride  1,000  miles  for  $5? 
And  to  know  that  the  biggest  part  of  that  is  profit,  going  to  reduce  the  taxes. 
It  can,  and  will  be  done  if  you  will  put  the  People's  Party  in  power. 

In  HUNGARY,  state  ownership  raised  the  number  of  passengers  in  one  year 
from  5,000,000  to  13,000,000,  with  higher  wages  and  a  relative  decrease  of 
expenses.    The  fare  is  one  cent  for  six  miles. 

In  BELGIUM  the  Government  owns  the  railroads  and  charges  about  one 
cent  a  mile.    The  wages  have  been  doubled. 

In  INDIA  a  splendid  railroad  system  has  been  constructed  by  the  Govern- 
ment, with  ra,tes  in  some  cases  only  one- sixth  what  we  are  charged. 

In  fact,  no  country  has  ever  tried  public  ownership  of  railroads  without 
finding  it  an  enormous  adv^antage  over  private  railroad  companies. 

In  comparison  with  all  this,  read  the  disgusting  and  abominable  history  of 
many  of  the  railroads  of  this  country.  One  of  the  best  pamphlets  on  the  subject 
is  that  by  the  Hon.  Thomas  V.  Gator,  entitled  "The  Necessity  and  Advantages 
of  National  Ownership  of  Railroads,"  published  by  the  Citizens'  Alliance,  San 
Francisco. 

The  following  appeared  in  the  Times  the  other  day: 

'  "Seventy-one  railroads  in  the  United  States  went  into  the  hands  of  receivers 
in  189^3,  be  ng  03  per  cent  of  the  entire  railway  mileage  of  this  country.  Up  to 
dat'^  nearly  40  per  cent  of  American  railway  interests  have  been  overtaken  by 
oankrup'cy,  and  it  is  noticeable  that  the  bankrupt  roads  established  the  fortunes 
of" the  Huntingtons,  the  Stanfords,  the  Vanderbilts,  and  a  host  of  other  railway 
millionaires.  And  still  people  argue  that  in  private  ownership  and  manage- 
ment of  railways  justice  and  economy  are  conserved!" 

?  There  are  in  ttiia  country  1,700  separate  railroad  corporations,  each  with 
scores  of  highly  paid.oflicials.  Once  in  a  while  ihey  get  to  fighting  one  another, 
but,  with  the  exception  of  these  rare  intervals,  they  are  all  the  time  conspiring 
wi^h'ieachvothejn to, .cheat  the  public  still  more.  If  some  railroad  should  be  too 
ii»tepeiDdte*«t  to  suit  them,  and  lower  its  ratw,  they  either  crush  it  by  diverting 
tbe  traffic,  or  bribe  ibtto  raise  its  prices  again.  To  defraud  the  public  they  have 
--~i('A''hoat}i'«ifi  Gontrivanoes,  such,  as  pools,  rebates,  drawbacks,  special  rates, 
psi^«^,*tei  I ?rh«y 'dictate^  ^arty  nominations  and  fill  courts  and    legislative 


bodies  with  their  attorneys.' 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  47 


The  railroad  millionaires  have  acquired  their  great  wealth  by  wrecking  one 
road  after  another  to  enrich  themselves.  The  Government  has  taken  charge  of 
the  roads  they  have  wrecked,  restored  them  to  prosperity  and  handed  them  hack 
to  the  wreckers  to  be  wrecked  once  more.    Sach  folly  'twere  trouble  to  find. 

As  one  of  our  papers  said  the  o*her  day : 

'•There  is  but  one  solution  to  the  railroad  question — Government  ownership. 
The  people  must  own  the  railroads,  or  the  railroad?  will  own  the  people.  Already 
all  the  great  companips  have  a  mutual  understanding.  They  have  formed  one 
gigantic  combiDe.  They  can  fix  their  own  rates  and  rob  the  people  at  their  own 
sweet  will.  Competition  is  eliminatea.  This  immense  trusr,  reaches  to  every 
corner  of  the  land.  Its  hand  is  on  every  man's  pocket  book.  Ic  levies  a  tar 
more  certainly  than  anv  moudrch  in  the  world.  It  owns  legislatures,  courts  and 
Congress  itself.  It  is  all  powerful  ana  is  actuated  by  no  feelings  but  selfishness 
and  greed. 

''The  people  must  strike  at  the  nead  of  this  monopoly.  They  cannot  over- 
come V  by  struggling  with  the  Dranches.  They  may  gain  an  apparent  victory  at 
one  point  bub  they  will  be  worsted  at  anotner.  Government  ownership  is  the 
only  solution  of  the  transportation  question.' '    [Alliance  Independent.] 

If  the  country  had  built  the  western  railroads  itself,  and  operated  them  at 
cost,  like  it  does  the  postoffice,  tne  west  would  today  be  more  powerful  than  the 
east.  As  it  is,  the  roads  have  cost  the  country  more  money  thaa  they  are  worth, 
besides  an  area  of  good  land  equal  to  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  Denmark, 
Sweden,  Germany  and  France.  And  after  all,  the  nation  has  no  control  of 
them.  The  companies  rob  the  interior  settlers  of  all  they  produce,  and  in 
many  parts  the  country  is  becoming  almost  a  wilderness. 

The  railroads  of  the  United  States  could  be  built  today  for  less  than  three 
hUlions  of  dollars,  and  that  is  aoout  what  they  cost  the  companies.  But  the 
corporations  have  watered  their  stock  to  the  tune  of  seven  billions  of  dollars,  so  as 
to  be  able  to  charge  higher  freignts.  They  claim  that  their  property  has  cost 
them  ten  billion  dollars,  and  that  they  are  entitled  to  charge  sufficient  to  return 
them  5  per  cent  on  this  outlay.  The  result  is  that  the  extortionate  "demands  of 
the  railroads  alone  absorb  all  the  profits  of  our  entire  wheat  and  cotton  crops  in 
the  United  States." 

With  Government  ownership  this  would  be  done  away  with. 

"It  has  been  estimated  that  the  raiiroad  system  of  the  United  States,  placed 
under  one  management  or  departmpnt  like  the  postoffice  system,  could  reduce 
frtight  rates  to  one-half  pre^^ent  rates,  place  mileage  at  one  cent  per  nule,  and 
pay  the  cost  of  construction  in  ten  years  from  the  sinking  fund  created  by  their 
net  earnings,  without  one  doUar's  outlay  on  the  part  of  the  Government. 
[Demands.] 

The  second  plank  is : 

"The  telegraph  and  telephone,  ,  e  tne  postoffice  system,  being  a  necessity 
for  the  transmission  of  news,  should  De  owned  and  operated  by  the  Government 
in  the  interest  of  the  people."  ,  ,     xu 

This  is  as  desirable  as  the  Government  ownership  of  railroads,  and  for  the 

same  reasons.  ,  l    4.u  - 

Great  Britain  and  many  otner  European  countries  own  and  operate  their 

telegraph  systems,  with  advantage  to  all.  ' 

W   H  Price  chief  electrician  of  the  Government  telegraphs  and  telephones 


reply  in  an  nour. 


48  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


we  go  .to  every  town  and  every  village,  irrespective  of  the  fact  that  they  pay  or 
do  not  pay,  while  in  the  stages  the  places  that  pav  appear  to  me  to  be  the  only 
ones  that  receive  the  attention  of  the  telegraph  companies." 

In  SWEDEN  the  Government  owns  the  telephones  and  charges  $30  a  year. 

In  NEW  YORK  the  corporations  own  them  and  charge  $240  a  year. 

LAND. 

"The  land,  including  all  the  natural  resources  of  wealth,  is  the  heritage  of 
the  people  and  should  not  be  monopolized  for  speculative  purposes,  and  alien, 
ownership  of  land  should  be  prohibited.  All  land  now  held  by  railways  and 
o^-her  corporations  in  excess  of  their  actual  needs,  and  all  lands  now  owned  by^ 
aliens,  should  be  reclaimed  by  the  Government  and  held  for  actual  settlers  only,"' 

More  than  forty  years  ago,  Herbert  Spencer,  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  his 
"'Social  Statics,"  showed  that  private  ownership  of  land  could  not  be  justified 
by  sound  economic  reasons.  No  one  has  ever  been  able  to  overthrow  hie 
arguments,  and  no  one  ever  will  be  able  to  do  so.  But  the  most  pressing  evil  in 
connection  with  land  is  the  fact  that  railroads  and  private  corporations  in  the 
United  States  have,  hy  bribed  legislation^  stolen  from  the  people  land  sufficient  for 
a  mighty  empire. 

As  D.  A.  Reynolds  says: 

In  thirty  land  grants  to  railroads— many  of  which  have  been  forfeited  by 
not  building  the  roads  and  other  causes — the  Government  gave  away  over: 
189,551,000  acres,  or  enough  to  make  homes  for  4,738,000  families.  In  addition 
to  this,  the  records  show  page  after  page  of  titles  to  European  nobility,  who  own! 
large  tracts  ranging  from  three  million  (over  eight  counties)  to  tracts  of  a  few* 
townships.  Little  idea  can  be  formed  of  the  extent  of  this  evil  without  com- 
parison, and  then  one  is  lost  in  the  computation.  The  railroad  grants  show' 
alone  an  area  four  times  as  large  as  England,  Ireland,  ScoHand  and  Wales, 
which,  added  to  the  vast  holdings  of  aliens,  swells  the  amount  to  an  area 
eleven  times  as  large  as  the  state  of  Ohio,  thirteen  such  states  as  Indiana, 
thirty-seven  such  states  as  Maryland,  or  three  hundred  and  fifty  such  states 
as  Rhode  Island."    ["Demands,"  page  27.] 

This  land  monopoly  is  one  great  cause  of  falling  wages,  for  the  increasing 
population  is  prevented  from  settling  on  this  land,  where  it  might  get  a  living 
independent  of  capitalists.  At  present  it  is  compelled  to  beg  for  work  from 
capitalists  as  the  sole  alternative  to  starvation.  The  result  is  that  there  is 
always  surplus  labor,  which  enables  capitalists  to  dictate  what  wages  they  shall 
give  their  employees. 

Almost  all  the  land  now  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  Government  is 
incapable  of  raising  a  crop. 

Whenever  a  reservation  has  been  thrown  open  for  public  settlement,  the 
result  has  been  like  throwing  a  bone  amongst  a  crowd  of  hungry  dogs.  And  at 
the  same  time  monopoly  broods  over  fertile  land  sufficient  for  an  empire — 
unable  to  utilize  it,  yet  determined  to  hold  it  from  its  rightful  owners,  the 
people.    [See  Appendix  I.] 

It  is  not  necessary  that  the  land  should  be  taken  from  the  aliens  who  now 
hold  it  whilst  living  in  another  country.  They  might  have  two,  three  or  five 
years*  notice  to  come  and  occupy  it  or  sell  out  to  others  who  would  do  so.  Or  it 
might  be  heavily  taxed  as  in  New  Zealand.    [See  Appendix  L.] 

The  land  regained  might  be  divided  into  small  farms  and  either  home- . 
steaded  or  rented  out  to  the  people  at  low  and  equitably  graded  rents.  Small ; 
farms,  securely  held,  return  much  larger  crops  than  large  half-cultivated  ranches. 

At  present  most  of  the  land  round  our  cities  is  kept  by  speculators  in  a 


BREAKERS  AIIEAD.  49 


non-productive  state.  If  it  could  be  divided  into  five-acre  tracts,  the  mechanics 
and  laborers  could  live  on  them  and  work  them  when  not  otherwise  employed. 
When  out  of  work  they  could  make  a  good  living  oy  selling  their  surplua 
produce  in  the  city.  Surplus  labor  would  then  be  done  away  with,  and  American 
pauper  labor  would  be  unknown. 

The  Nationalists  and  some  others  go  much  further  than  the  Populists  in  the 
way  of  reducing  the  power  and  wealth  of  the  money  classes  who  bear  down  the 
jpeople.  But  the  Populist  platform  is  a  very  broad  one,  and  if  their  reforms  are 
safely  accomplished,  the  ground  will  have  been  broken  for  more  improvements. 

For  permanent  prosperity  will  never  come  till  Capitalism  and  Monopoly  are 
overthrown  and  Co-operation  rules  supreme.  The  people  will  have  to  get  possession 
of  all  the  monopolies,  natural  or  otherwise,  and  use  them  for  the  public  good. 
(See  Appendix  LJ 

At  present  every  conquest  oyer  the  forces  of  nature  enriches  the  wealthy  and 
impoverishes  the  toilers.  Under  our  present  system  every  labor  saying  machine, 
instead  of  shortening  the  hours  of  labor  and  impro/ing  the  condition  of  the 
toilers,  makes  more  surplus  labor  and  lowers  wages. 

The  census  reports  show,  by  the  relation  of  the  growth  of  wealth  to  the 
number  of  workers,  that  the  ayerage  worker  creates  more  than  $10  worth  of 
wealth  every  day.  Yet  the  average  wages,  the  year  through,  are  less  than  one 
dollar  a  day,  and  are  decreasing  all  the  time.  More  than  nine-tenths  of  the 
wealth  flows  into  the  hands  of  those  of  whom  it  is  said :  ''He  that  will  not  work 
neither  shall  he  eat." 

Some  people  say  that  the  Populist  platform  is  a  very  good  one,  but  that  the 
leaders,  once  in  office,  will  go  the  way  of  the  old  party  leaders,  and  will,  like 
them,  become  the  willing  tools  of  the  Wall  street  gamblers.  If  this  is  so,  then 
let  us  give  it  up  and  admit  that  we  are  slaves,  and  deserve  to  be  slaves. 

But  some  of  our  leaders  are  tried  men,  who  have  for  many  years  resisted  all 
attempts  to  bribe  them.  And  if  once  the  Initiative  and  Referendum  be  introduced 
that  danger  will  be  almost  entirely  done  away  with.  Even  the  old  party  papers 
are  compelled  to  acknowledge  the  ability,  earnesmess  and  honesty  of  our 
leaders. 

Listen  to  what  the  New  York  Sun  has  to  say  of  the  Populist  members  of 
Congress : 

"So  much  for  the  Populist  members.  There  is  not  an  idle  man  among  them. 
They  are  always  in  their  seats  and  their  names  are  found  recorded  upon  nearly 
every  roll  call.  They  are  not  obstructionists  or  cranks,  but  men  who  seem  to 
have  become  convinced  that  the  welfare  of  the  nation  requires  the  service  of  a 
new  political  party  to  meet  ihe  emergency.  Tnat  it  has  found  many  hearers 
was  shown  by  their  wonderful  convention  in  Omaha  in  i892,  in  their  casting  over 
a  million  votes  and  getting  over  twenty  electoral  votes  in  tneir  first  campaign,  a 
new  step  in  a  national  election.  No  one  in  the  Popuhst  party  need  be  ashamed, 
but  instead  can  be  proud  of  their  representatives  in  Congress." 

There  are  attempts  being  made  by  men  (some  of  whom  are  in  the  pay  of  the 
gold  gamblers)  to  side  track  the  People's   Party  on  some  comparatively  unim- 
portant issue.    PopuUstc,  don't  be  deceived  by  them.    Stick  to  your  platform, 
keep  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  march  right  forward,  and  Satan  himself  shall  not 
.prevail  against  you.     TouHl  git  then. 


60  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A  WORLD  IN  DISTRESS.— THE  SAME  CAUSE. 

In  discussing  the  cause  and  cure  of  the  troubles  which  are  bankrupting  our 
people,  I  have  kept  mainly  to  the  United  States.  But  our  country  is  not  by  any 
means  the  only  one  which  has  been  "progressing  backwards"  the  last  thirty 
years.  The  same  cause  has  been  operating  in  many  lands  to  produce  the  same 
effect. 

Grover  Cleveland  only  showed  gross  ignorance  when  he  declared  that  the 
purchasing  clause  of  the  Sherman  Act  was  the  cause  of  the  trouble.  But  no  sane- 
person  would  ever  claim  that  that  clause  was  the  cause  of  the  distress  in  England 
Germany,  Italy,  Scandinavia,  Australia,  etc. 

There  has  been  ONE  GREAT  CAUSE  at  work  nearly  all  over  the  world, 
and  that  cause  is  the  one  whose  workings  I  have  pointed  out  in  the  United' 
States. 

''looking  backward." 

In  order  to  get  a  correct  idea  of  the  facts  I  will  go  back  a  good  many  years^ 

Between  1789  and  1809,  gold  fell  in  value  46  per  cent.  [F.  A.  Walker  in: 
**Money."]  The  result,  as  far  as  it  can  be  made  out  by  the  study  of  those 
turbulent  times,  was  prosperity.  Between  1809  and  1849,  gold  rose  in  value  49.& 
percent.    [F.A.Walker.] 

In  1816,  the  monied  men  of  England  got  the  Government  to  adopt  the  gold 
standard  and  reduce  silver  to  a  subsidiary  coinage.  As  a  result,  the  great 
English  historian,  Sir  Archibald  Allison  tells  us  that — 

.   "Within  ten  years    *    *    three-fourths  of  the  people  had  lost  their  homes.*' 

At  one  time  the  country  was  within  twenty-four  hours  of  a  revolution  on 
account  of  the  distress. 

Between  1849  and  1869,  gold  fell  20  per  cent  in  value.    [F.  A.  Walker.] 

This  was  owing  to  the  enormous  production  of  gold  in  Siberia,  California  and 
Australia.  The  results  were  that  the  world's  stock  of  money  swelled,  property 
appreciated  in  value,  and  the  condition  of  the  masses  improved  in  every  way 

DEMONETIZATION  OF   GOLD. 

But  the  money  lenders,  finding  that  they  were  losing  their  power  over  the 
people,  demanded  that  one  of  the  metals  be  discarded  as  money.  As  it  was  the 
gold  which  was  at  that  time  depreciating,  the  money  lenders  urged  that  it  be 
thrown  overboard. 

In  1859  this  was  done  to  some  extent.  Gold  was  demonetized  in  Germany, 
Scandinavia  and  the  Netherlands.    England,  France,  etc.,  refused  to  follow  suit. 

England  and  some  other  countries  were  using  gold  exclusively.  Germany 
and  some  other  countries  were  using  silver  exclusively.  The  United  States  and 
some  other  countries  had  free  coinage  of  both  gold  and  silver. 

DEMONETIRATION   OF    SILVER. 

Meanwhile  the  production  of  gold  declined,  and  the  silver  mines  of  Nevada 
were  discovered.  Ttieir  capacity  was  exaggerated,  and  it  began  to  be  feared  that 
the  world  would  be  flooded  with  silver.  Commissions  were  sent  from  Congress 
and  Europe  to  report.  They  confirmed  the  exaggerations,  and  the  fund  holders 
became  alarmed.    The  fight,  therefore,  turned  against  silver. 

As  the  open  fight  against  gold  had  not  been  very  successful,  the  fight  against 
silver  was  carried  on  more  quietly.    An  agitation  was  got  up  for  an  international 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  51 


■ystem  of  weights,  measnres  and  coins.  The  delegates  met,  and  as  a  beginning, 
SLgreed  to— recommend  the  use  of  gold  only  for  money.  They  then — adjourned  and 
never  tmI  again. 

Great  Britain  and  all  her  colonies,  except  India,  were  already  on  a  gold 
basis.  Germany,  Scandinavia  and  the  Netherlands  remonetized  gold  and! 
demonetized  sUver.  By  trickery  the  United  States  Government  also  demonetized 
sttver  without  the  people  knowing  it.    [See  Appendix  E  ] 

France,  India,  Japan  and  the  Spanish-American  states  refused  to  do  it. 

Since  then,  the  gold  standard  countries  have  used  silver,  but  only  as  a  token 
of  credit,  payable  in  gold.  The  two  metals  together  never  have  been  mined  in 
sufficient  quantities  to  supply  the  demand  for  money.  Bat  now,  in  the  single 
standard  countries,  gold  has  to  bear  the  whole  burden  of  commerce. 

THE  RESULT. 

Several  nations  undertook  to  sell  their  silver  coin  for  gold.  Gold,  of  course, 
went  up  in  value  in  relation  to  silver.  Or,  in  other  words,  silver  went  down  in 
relation  to  gold.  And  it  carried  down  with  it  the  prices  of  all  other  commodities. 
GOLD  STANDARD  COUNTRIES.— DISTRESS. 

The  result  has  been  that  all  those  countries  which  discarded  silver  have  ever 
since  been  subject  to  panics  of  ever  mcreasing  severity.  The  symptoms  of 
distress  have  been  uniform,  although  the  countries  have  otherwise  been  under 
very  diflferent  conditions. 

SYMPTOMS. 

There  has  been  an  insufficiency  of  money  for  business.  Prices  have  fallen, 
not  only  in  reference  to  those  articles  which  have  been  cheapened  by  the 
introduction  of  machinery,  but  in  everything  else  as  well.  There  has  been  a 
lack  of  confidence  in  financial  ci'-cles.  There  have  been  frequent  disturbances  of 
the  money  market.  There  has  been  an  indisposition  on  the  part  of  capital  to 
embark  in  new  undertakings.  Many  industrial  entefrprises  have  been  given  up 
from  a  lack  of  profit.    There  has  been  an  enormous  increase  of  bankruptcy. 

Strikes  to  resist  reduction  of  wages  have  become  more  and  more  frequent 
and  severe.  Poverty  and  crime  have  increased.  The  middle  classes  have 
become  more  or  lees  obliterated.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  millionaires  have  bred 
like  maggots  on  a  dead  carcass. 

DIVERSE    CONDITIONS    AFFECTED. 

These  maladies  have  prevailed  regardless  of  form  of  government,  develop- 
ment of  resources,  or  density  of  population. 

Free  trade  England  has  suffered  tremendously,  and  many  of  her  people  attribute 
the  trouble  to  free  trade  ( !) 

Europe,  with  moderate  tariff-*,  suffers  as  severely. 

The  United  States,  with  high  tariffs,  suffers  even  more  severely,  considering 
its  advantages.    Many  people  here  attribute  the  trouble  to  high  tariffs  ( !) 

Republic,  limited  monarchy,  and  despotic  empire  suffer  alike. 

New,  thinly  settled  and  comparatively  undeveloped  countries  are  as  much 
affected  as  old,  thickly  settled  and  highly  developed  countries. 

The  condition  of  Europe  is  complicated  by  the  existence  of  enormous  armies 
and  navies,  with  the  resulting  heavy  taxes.  But  those  countries  which 
demonetized  silver  are  by  far  the  most  seriously  effected. 

SILVER  COUNTRIES. 

France.— Notwithstanding   the   plots   of   anarchiet?,    the  most  prosperous 


BEEAKERS  AHEID. 


KJOtintry  in  the  world  today  is  France.  She  has  now  three  and  a  quarter 
million  land  owners,  whilst  Great  Britain  has  only  a  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  ! 

The  people  of  France  are  today,  notwithstanding  her  bonded  debt  and  the 
heavy  war  indemnity  to  Germany — 

**Better  off  with  respect  to  the  means  of  subsistance,  shelter  and  clothing, 
than  those  of  any  other  nation  on  the  continent." 

France's  per  capita  of  circulating  money  is  $24.50,  whilst  Germany  has  only 
,$18.50,  and  Great  Britain  $15.50.  The  United  States  has  nominally  $24  per 
capita,  but,  according  to  Senator  Plumb,  only  $8  of  that  is  now  permitted  to 
circulate,  the  remainder  being  kept  in  treasury  and  bank  reserves,  or  private 
hoards. 

INDIA. 

India,  which  is  still  a  silver  couatry,  is,  for  that  very  reason,  advancing  in 
her  industries  at  the  expense  of  the  gold  standard  countries. 

Since  silver  was  demonetized  by  other  nations  early  in  the  seventies, 
her  cotton  mills  have  increased  in  number  from  18  to  96.  She  now  exports  to 
)€hina  and  Japan  alone  nearly  as  muck  cotton  as  the  Lancashire  mills  of  England  export 
to  all  the  world.  Owing  to  her  ch^ap  wheat,  cheapened  by  the  fall  of  silver  here, 
tfihe  has  almost  succeeded  in  ruining  American  and  English  farmers.  And  owing 
to  her  cheap  cotton,  also  cheapened  by  the  fall  of  silver  here,  she  has  succeeded 
in  making  cotton  raismg  unprofitable  in  the  United  States. 

CHINA. 

China,  the  most  crowded  and  unprogressive  of  all  countries,  has  been  free 
from  the  distress  which  has  overtaken  the  countries  which  went  back  on  silver. 

JAPAN. 

Japan,  which  has  been  imitating  Europe  in  everything-  else,  has  kept  to 
silver,  and  has  prospered  accordingly. 

SPANISH  AMERICA. 

The  Spanish- American  states,  which  have  retained  silver,  are  more  contented 
and  industrious  than  before,  and  their  people  have  not  suffered  like  those  of  the 
gold  standard  countries,  in  spite  of  their  folly  with  regard  to  European  bonds' 

RAISING  SILVER. 

If  India,  and  Mexico,  and  the  other  free  coinage  na<;ions  had  had  everything 
to  sell  that  the  human  family  wanted  to  buy,  their  free  coinage  of  silver  would 
have  kept  silver  uo  at  its  old  price.  But  India  has  no  manufactured  goods  to 
6ell--only  wheat,  cotton  and  corn.  And  the  other  free  coinage  countries  are 
even  less  prepared  to  hold  up  silver  by  themselves.  Still  the  fall  of  silver  when 
the  India  mints  were  closed  to  free  coinage  last  year,  show  that  these  countries 
have  done  something  towards  keeping  silver  fronp  reaching  bedrock  prices. 

On  the  other  hand  the  United  States  is  the  greatest  and  richest  of  all  the 
countries  in  the  world.  She  has  for  sale  products  of  all  kinds,  suitable  for  every 
race  of  people.  Consequently  she  could,  by  adopting  absolute  free  coinage  at  16 
to  1,  raise  silver  to  its  old  price,  and  defy  the  nations  of  the  world  to  bring  it  low 
again,  if  they  were  fools  enough  to  try.  She  did  it  once,  for  57  years,  in  spite  of 
England,  and  she  can  do  it  again. 

If,  in  doing  so,  she  should  become  the  ''dumping  ground"  of  the  world's 
silver,  every  fresh  "dump"  would  be  like  an  influx  of  neie  arterial  hlood  to  a 
wasted  body.  It  would  increase  the  volume  of  the  circulating  medium  on  which 
the  commerce  of  the  country  depends.    And  by  doing  so  it  would  raise  prices 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  53 


id  wages  alike.  This  being  so,  cion't  be  bamboozled  into  depending  on  any 
International  Congress  to  settle  the  siiver  question.  Such  a  congress  would  be 
composed  of  wolves  as  well  as  lambs,  and  the  wolves  will  get  their  way  every 
time.     And  Do^^T  you  forget  it, 

[For  some  of  the  particulars  in  this  chapter  I  am  indebted  to  an  article  by 
George  C.  Douglas  in  the  Arena  for  September,  1S93.} 


CHAPTER    X. 

"KIN  BEYOND  SEA."— ENGLAND. 

Ii«t  VLB  now  consider  more  closely  the  effect  on  England  of  her  gold  standard* 

When  the  French  war  broke  out  in  1697,  both  gold  and  silver  'v^ere  legal 
tender.  Both  together  being  unequal  to  the  occasion,  paper  money  was  issued. 
The  result  was  that  in  spite  of  the  war,  there  wag  tremendous  prosperity  such  as 
had  never  been  known  before.  The  ruling  classes  lauded  the'  papeir  money  to 
the  skies.  They  could  not  say  enough  in  its  favor.  But  as  soon  is  the  danger 
was  over,  they  began  to  talk  it  down,  because  they  could  not  control  it  and  ge- 
enough  of  the  wealth  into  their  own  hands.  ' 

The  war  closed  in  1815.  The  very  next  year  the  wealthy  classes  contrived  to 
get  a  law  passed  limiting  the  use  of  silver.  Henceforth  it  could  only  pay  debt& 
under  $10.  This  practically  demonetized  silver  and  threw  the  whole  burden  of 
commerce  upon  gold,  which  naturally  rose  in  value.  The  prosperity  of  the 
country  began  at  one  3  to  decline,  as  it  always  will  when  the  currency  is  con- 
tracted. The  wealthy  classes,  however,  became  more  wealthy  and  at  the  same 
time  more  greedy.  They  fooled  the  people  into  believing  that  the  paper  money 
was  the  cause  of  the  trouble.  In  1819  they  managed  to  pass  a  Refsumption  act, 
which  restored  specie  payment. 

The  paper  money,  which  had  carried  the  country  through  the  war,  was 
gradually  gathered  in  by  the  bankers  at  seventy  cents  on  the  dollar,  and  sold  to 
the  government  at  face  value  for  interest  bearing  consols  Or  boncls.  As  fast  as  the 
Government  got  hold  of  the  paper  money  it  burnt  it  up.  The  result  was  disas- 
trous beyond  conception.  As  the  elder  Peel  told  his  son  Robert  when  he  had 
got  the  bill  passed : 

**Mv  eon,  you  have  doubled  the  value  of  my  property,  bu^  you  have  ruined' 
your  country." 

Robert  Mushat  wrote  that — 

"The  prosperity  of  thp  country  seemed  to  vanish  with  the  first  measures  of 
the  Bank  of  England  to  effect  resumption." 

Sir  Archibald  Alison  says : 

"The  effects  of  this  extraordinary  piece  of  legislation  were  soon  apparent. 
The  industry  of  the  nation  congealed  as  a  flowing  stream  is  by  the  severity  of  f^' 
arctic  winter." 

Wages  and  values  fell  tremendously,  factories,  were  cloBed,  and  the  land^ 
went  out  of  cultivation.  -       »      .         ,  .     . 

Alexander  BARisa  said  that  the  suffering  extended  to  all  classes,  and  tha 


5^,  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


the  condition  of  Great  Britain  in  the  sixth  year  of  the  peace  was  tmparalleled 
in  the  history  of  any  nation  or  time. 

LoBD  Brougham  afterwards  saw  his  mistake,  and  bitterly  repented  that  he 
had  helped  to  pass  the  bill.    Sir  James  Graham  said : 

"The  bitter  fruits  of  the  act  were  tasted  by  all  classes,  save  that  in  the 
midst  of  the  ruin  inflicted  upon  the  farmers  and  manufacturers,  and  the  insur- 
rection of  a  populace  without  bread  and  without  employment,  the  fund  holders 
and  tax  eaters  profited.    They  profited,"  he  said,  "by  what  the  producers  lost." 

The  bulk  of  the  land  owners  were  driven  to  the  wall,  as  the  American 
farmers  are  being  driven  to  the  wall  today.  As  the  Hon.  George  C.  Brodick 
says  in  the  "Cobden  Club  Essays." 

"By  the  reign  of  William  IV,  who  succeeded  to  the  throne  in  1830,  the 
descendents  of  freeholders  who  once  sat  as  judges  and  legislators  in  the  courts 
of  their  own  county,  hundred  and  township,  had  sunk  into  day  laborers,  but  one 
atep  removed  from  serfdom." 

So  great  was  the  distress  that  the  starving  people  almost  broke  into  insurrec- 
tion. Six  acts  of  Parliment  were  passed  to  crush  them  into  subjection.  The 
idiots  who  wrote  political  economy  attributed  all  the  distress  produced  by  the 
money  famine  to  overproduction.  Just  as  another  set  of  "financiers"  is  trying 
to  persuade  people  the  same  thing  today,  when  millions  are  starving  for  want  of 
food,  clothing  anci  shelter. 

The  demonetization  of  silver  and  the  specie  resumption  act  threw  the 
bulk  of  the  wealth  into  the  hands  of  a  few,  and  these  few  had  more  than  the 
crippled  state  of  a  highly  protected  commerce  could  find  employment  for  at  home. 
Much  of  the  money,  therefore,  went  abroad  in  the  form  of  loans.  New  and 
undeveloped  countries  borrowed  it  to  help  in  developing  their  resources.  It  was 
often  borrowed  recklessly  and  squandered  anyhow. 

The  result  is  that  England  is  now  a  creditor  nation,  and  the  United  States  and 
many  other  countries  are  debtor  nations,  over  head  and  ears  in  debt,  and  practically 
bankrupt  in  spite  of  their  natural  wealth. 

Meanwhile  the  people  themselves  endeavored  to  relieve  commerce  from  the 
crushing  load  of  "protection."  In  1849  they  organized  a  "Coxey's  Army"  and 
marched  against  the  seat  of  government.  They  demanded  the  repeal  of  the 
dam  Laws,  which  kept  food  up  at  famine  prices.  The  Government  gave  in,  and 
the  repeal  proved  a  great  relief  to  the  people. 

The  shipping  of  England  had  long  been  "protected"  from  growing  by 
^ifavigation  Laws,  like  those  with  which  America  has  driven  her  own  flag  off  the 
high  seas  since  the  rebellion.  These  were  repealed  in  the  same  year  as  the  Corn 
Laws.    The  result  was  that  in  twenty  years  the  shipping  increased  50  per  cent. 

Between  1849  and  '61,  the  high  tarifl'a  were  gradually  taken  off  in  spite  of  the 
opposition  of  "protected"  interests. 

With  free  trade,  England's  position  in  the  highway  of  commerce  enabled  her 
producers  to  recover  .from  their  poverty,  notwithstanding  that  they  had  been 
driven  off  their  farms  into  the  cities. 

The  gre^t  gold  discoveries  about  1849  brought  back  prosperity  to  the  world 
t)y  increasing  the  amount  of  money,  Preo  trade  and  an  increase  of  money  had 
their  natural  a  ad  inevitable  result.  The  Englieh  export  trade  more  than  doubled 
in  ten  years,  and  is  now  six  times  greater  than  it  was  fifty  years  ago.  Wages 
advanced  and  the  population  has  increased  40  per  cent.  Before  long  England 
became  the  greatest  manufacturing  country  in  the  world. 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  55 


It  will  be  seen  that  history  is  now  repeating  itself.  Oar  history,  since  the 
Rebellion,  is  an  almost  exact  parallel  to  Eaglish  history  after  the  French  war. 
^See  Appendix  K.] 

The  greedy  money  brokers  of  England  and  the  continent  now  became 
diBsatisfied  with  the  growing  wealth  of  the  people.  There  was  so  much  money 
thai  they  could  not  control  it.  Tiiey  therefore  tried  to  demonetize  gold.  When 
that  scheme  failed,  on  account  of  England's  opposition,  they  turned  upon  silver 
and  drove  it  off  the  field  by  fraud. 

The  demonetization  of  silver  by  other  countries  was  a  great  thing  for  the 
money  lenders  in  England. 

Hitherto  the  existence  of  free  coinage  of  silver  here  had  prevented  that 
metal  from  depreciating  even  in  England,  wnere  it  had  been  practic^ly  demonet- 
ized for  57  years. 

Its  demonetization  here,  however,  removed  the  last  great  market  for  silver, 
and  it  has  been  falling  in  price  ever  since.  So  the  interest  the  English  money 
'lenders  receive  has  been  virtually  doubled.  They  and  their  Wall  street  accom- 
plices have  been  enabled  to  get  possession  of  nearly  all  the  wealth  produced  not 
only  in  this  country,  but  in  many  other  parts  of  tbe  world.  Tbey  have  their 
octopus  arms  firmly  clasped  round  every  industry  in  the  United  States,  and  suck 
cttore  blood  out  of  the  producers  here  than  they  could  if  they  owned  the  people 
body  and  soul,  and  stood  over  them  with  knotted  lashes. 

What  they  lend  to  us  is  not  really  wealth,  but  credit.  They  have  not  sent 
money  or  its  equivalent  here,  although  they  own  our  railroads,  lands  and 
factories.  That  this  is  true  will  be  seen  when  it  is  remembered  that  for  30  years 
we  have  sent  out  far  more  gold,  silver  and  merchandise  than  we  have  received. 
Yet  they  have  got  hold  of  eighteen  billions  of  our  securities. 

This  borrowing  of  credit  or  fictitious  capital  was  not  at  all  necessary  in  any 
tshape  or  form.  We  produce  everything  we  need  for  food,  clothing  and  shelter, 
and  have  gold,  paper  and  silver  to  make  money  out  of.  To  borrow  money  from 
England  is  as  senseless  as  it  would  be  to  drink  no  water  except  that  drawn  from 
English  wells. 

If  we  had  only  had  the  sense  to  do  as  New  Zealand  is  domg  today,  we  might 
snap  our  fingers  at  the  children  of  Abraham.  All  that  is  necessary  is  fcr  the 
governmett  ,  either  national,  state  or  municipal,  to  pay  their  expenses  by 
Treasury  notes,  or  state  and  city  script,  and  agree  to  receive  these  back  as  full 
iegal  tender  for  all  debts.  The  example  of  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  shows  what 
vcan  be  done  in  this  way,  though  the  money  power  will  move  heaven,  earth  and 
hell  to  prevent  it. 

Because  England  is  a  creditor  nation,  many  English  people  suppose  that 
:a  gold  standard  is  better  suited  for  England,  even  if  a  double  or  optional 
standard  is  better  for  a  debtor  nation. 

W.  E.  Gladstone  is  of  this  opinion,  but  it  appears  to  me  that  he  has  made  a 
terrible  mistake.  He  is  so  surrounded  by  monied  men  that  he  has  got  to  look 
oDon  them  as  the  people  of  England.  He  talks  about  the  money  we  have  got 
Abroad,  and  asks  if  we  are  going  to  perform  a  supreme  act  of  self-sacrifice  by 
remonetizing  silver.    He  says:  .      u      * 

"IFe  have  nothing  to  pay  to  them;  toe  are  no  debtors  at  all;  toe  shou  d  get 
^o  comfort,  no  consolltion  out  of  the  substitution  of  an  inferior  jnateria  ,  of  a 
^ueaplr  money.    *    *     We  should  get  no   consolation,  but   the   consolation 


56  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


throughout  the  world  would  be  great."    [From  the   Times,  London,  March  1^ 

1893.]  »  »  * 

If  W.  E.  Gladstone  lives  ten,  or  even  five  years  longer,  I  think  he  will  see 
that  his  action  on  the  money  question  has  been  the  greatest  mistake  of  his  life. 
Owing  to  his  commanding  influence  over  the  people,  the  evil  that  his  position 
on  this  question  ie  doing  to  the  world  is  outweighing  all  the  good  deeds  of  his 
long  and  useful  life. 

The  fact  is,  that  a  single  gold  standard  is  good  for  the  money  power  and  for 
DO  one  else.  It  enables  a  few  drones  to  get  the  greater  part  of  the  honey 
produced  by  the  million  workers.  Allison,  the  historian,  tells  us  that  within 
ten  years  after  monometalism  was  adopted  in  England,  three  quarters  of  her 
people  lost  their  homes. 

Benjamin  Disraeli  hit  the  nail  on  the  head  when  he  said  in  November,  1873 : 

"Our  gold  standard  is  not  the  cause  of  our  commercial  prosperity,  but  the 
consequence  of  our  commercial  prosperity.'' 
As  John  P.  Young  said  last  year  in  the  San  Francisco  Chronicle : 

"Since  the  period  mentioned,  the  world  has  seen  how  utterly  useless  the 
jjfold  standard  of  England  has  been  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  that  country* 
The  calling  of  royal  commissions  to  enquire  into  the  cause  of  existing  depression, 
the  shrinking  of  the  external  and  internal  trade,  the  d^structioa  of  the  agricul- 
tural industry,  the  prostration  of  manufactures,  the  prevalence  of  strikes,, 
collossal  in  character,  and  the  growth  of  Socialism  in  Great  Britain,  justify  the 
keen  observation  of  Disraeli  and  force  the  conclusion  that  an  expe'lient  resorted 
to  in  the  days  of  prosperity  will  have  to  be  abandoned  now  tnat  the  «lays  of 
adversity  have  come." 

The  producers  of  England,  like  the  pro  lucers  of  this  country,  have  been 
going  backward  in  prosperity  ever  since  gold  began  to  appreciate  in  value  through 
the  general  demonetization  of  silver.  Millionaires  and  tramps  have  increased 
together.  The  capitalist,  by  buying  cheap  silver,  and  getting  it  coined  in  India,^ 
could  sell  it  for  India  wheat  and  land  that  in  England  at  a  price  which  ruined 
English  and  American  farmers  who  had  to  compete  with  it.  English  farming, 
therefore,  became  unprofitable,  and  the  farms  have  gone  down  in  value. 

As  Richard  Everett,  M.  P.,  said  last  summer: 

"The  supreme  aim  of  the  monied  classes  and  the  London  press  is  to  restrict 
the  supply  of  money  so  as  to  enrich  the  owners  of  it  at  t tie  expense  of  the 
raisers  of  produce  and  the  owners  of  land  and  other  real  property." 

The  money  power  of  England  is  making  slaves  of  the  English  producers 
precisely  in  the  same  way  that  it  is  doing  here,  with  the  help  of  its  Wall  street 
conspirators.    And  it  m.akes  use  of  both  parties  to  further  its  ends. 

FREE    TRADE  VS.   HIGH  TARIFFS. 

Free  trade,  fair  trade  and  protection  serve  to  keep  the  people  from  inquiring 
too  closely  into  the  great  money  question  on  which  depends  the  prosperity  oir 
destruction  of  the  nation.  Other  conditions  being  satisfactory,  a  country  will  be 
fairly  prosperous  under  either  free  trade  or  protection.  But  let  class  legislation 
upset  the  money  equilibrium,  and  free  trada  nations  and  protected  nations  go 
to  ruin  alike. 

I  have  lived  in  both  free  trade  and  high  tariff  countries,  and  have  always 
been  an  opponent  of  high  tariffs.  Only  those  who  are  blind  to  the  lessons  of 
history  can  be  anything  else. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  evils  of  the  gold  standard  in  England,  all  the  world: 
would  be  compelled  to  acknowledge  the  wisdom  of  fre^  trade.  As  it  is,  all  the- 
ill  effects  of  monometalism  are  falsely  attributed  to  frew  tr*  in 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  57    ' 


To  the  people  of  England  I  would  say :  Give  up  the  single  gold  standard, 
increase  the  amount  of  fall  legal  tender  paper  money,  but  beware  how  you 
abandon  free  trade.  Your  own  history  proves  that  this  is  the  only  chance  you 
have  to  hold  your  own  against  the  weld. 

The  greatest  objection,  perhaps,  to  a  high  tariff  is  that  it  is  one  of  the  two 
great  causes  ol  the  trusts,  rings  and  combines  which  are  preying  on  the  people 
of  America.  With  lov  tariffs  (or  no  tariffs)  and  a  sufficiency  of  money  in 
circulation,  these  villanies  would  become  more  absent  here  than  they  are  in 
England.  Capitalists  like  high  tariffs  because  they  not  only  enable  them  to 
gather  in  the  shekels,  but  throw  the  Government  expenses  on  the  poor,  who  are 
least  able  to  bear  the  burden. 

Senator  David  B.  Hill  showed  the  cloven  hoof  when  he  said  in  his  speecti 
against  the  income  tax : 

"The  fact  that  nine-tenths  of  our  copulation  pay  nothing  directly  towards 
our  state,  county  and  local  taxation,  adds  lorce  to  the  argument  that  they  should. 
continue  to  be  reached  iudirectly  through  tariff  taxation." 

To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken 
even  the  rags  that  sheltsr  him  from  the  wintry  blasts. 

A  tariff  is  the  most  wasteful  way  it  is  possible  to  invent  for  producing  a. 
revenue.  Every  dollar  which  goes  to  the  Government  costs  the  producer  many 
dollars.  When  a  duty  is  put  on  any  article,  the  manufacturer  raises  the  price 
as  high  as  the  duty  will  allow  him,  and  he  still  pays  his  employes  the  lowest 
wages  at  which  he  can  get  them  to  work  for  him.  The  whole  of  the  extra  price 
which  the  people  have  to  pay  on  almost  everything,  goes  to  the  employer.  The 
Government  collects  its  daties  at  an  enormous  expense,  and  the  workman  gets 
no  benefit  whatever.  Not  only  do  s  the  workman  get  nothing,  but  he  has  to 
pay  higher  prices  for  everything  he  eats,  drinks  and  wears. 

In  Europe  the  highest  wages  are  those  in  free  trade  England. 

In  Europe  the  Jowest  wages  are  in  Germany  and  other  high  tariff  countries. 

A  mechanic  getting  $1.50  a  day  in  England  is  better  off  than  one  who  earns 
$3  in  America.  And  this  is  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  meat  and  some  other 
articles  of  food  are  necessarily  cheaper  here  than  in  England. 

Still,  although  (for  the  above  and  other  reasons)  I  am  yet  decidedly  of  the 
opinion  that  free  trade  is  the  beat  for  this  or  any  other  country,  I  have  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  in  America  the  question  is  of  but  secondary  importance  so 
long  as  we  have  free  trade  from  the  Dalles  of  the  Columbia  to  the  Everglades  of 
Florida,  from  the  great  lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  chief  value  of  the  tariff  question  to  the  money  power  of  America  is  to 
k*.ep  the  people  occupied  so  as  to  put  them  off  the  scent  of  the  money  contrac- 
tion which  is  enabling  them  to  rake  in  the  shekels  all  the  time. 

Manufacturers  are  handicapped  by  high  gold,  because  it  does  not  pay  silver 
countries  to  send  their  silver  to  where  it  is  worth  so  little.  Hence  the  Chmese 
and  Japanese  buv  their  cotton  goods  in  India,  where  their  silver  sells  for  more 
varn  than  it  would  buy  in  England.  ^        .    .  .^u 

"  If  England  adopts  the  recommendations  of  the  Herschell  Commission  with- 
r^card  to  Indian  silver,  she  will  drawdown  ruin  and  starvation  on  India  without 
lettering  the  people  of  England.  Already  the  stoppage  of  silver  coinage  in 
l,..Ua  baa  made  gold  dearer  siill,  and  silver  lower  than  ever.  With  low  silver, 
h««t  in  California  and  Australia  has  dropped  below  the  cost  of  production,  and 
uc  Kn-'lish  farmer  has  had  another  nail  knocked  into  his  coffin. 


58  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


The  English  money  power  did  its  best  to  prevent  an  international  agreement 
as  to  gold  and  silver  at  Brussels. 

And  now  it  is  trying  to  ruin  India  and  the  English  producers  at  the  same 
time. 

The  producers  of  England  should  demand  true  bimetallism  with  free  coinagi  at 
15K  or  16  to  1. 

Then  the  silver  using  countries  will  once  more  be  her  customers,  and  one 
great  cause  of  hard  times  will  be  removed. 

As  to  the  money  lenders,  let  them  beware  how  they  kill  the  goose  that  lays 
their  golden  eggs.  Guatemala  has  led  the  way  to  a  general  repudiatian  of  debte, 
and  if  they  will  insist  on  having  their  pound  of  flesh  weighed  in  a  fraudulent 
balance,  they  must  not  be  surprised  if  they  share  the  fate  of  Shakespeare's 
Shylock. 

They  appear  to  have  forgotten  that  to  double  the  interest  on  a  loan  is  to 
halve  the  capacity  of  the  debtor  to  pay  off  his  debt. 

By  by  doing  so  it  halves  the  value  of  his  securities.  It  also  doubles  the 
chances  of  his  repudiating  the  debt,  in  the  case  of  a  nation,  or  of  allowing  the 
mortgage  on  his  depreciaT;ed  property  to  be  foreclosed,  in  the  case  of  an 
individual. 

The  money  brokers  of  Europe  and  Wall  street  will  have  ample  opportunities 
of  studying  this  phase  of  the  question  in  the  next  twelve  months. 

ERNEST  SEYD's   WARNING. 

Soon  after  silver  was  demonetized  in  the  United  States,  Ernest  Seyd,  who, 
in  spite  of  his  free  silver  proclivities,  had  been  hired  by  the  English  bankers  to 
strike  down  silver  here,  wrote : 

"It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  adoption  of  the  gold  valuation  by 
other  states  besides  England  will  be  beneficial.  It  will  only  lead  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  monetary  equilibrium  hitherto  existing,  and  cause  a  fall  in  the  value 
of  silver,  from  which  England's  trade  and  the  Indian  silver  valuation  will  suffer 
more  than  all  other  interests,  grievous  as  the  general  decline  of  prosperity  all 
over  the  world  will  be.  The  strong  doctrinarianism  existing  in  England  as 
regards  the  gold  valuation  is  so  blind  that  when  the  time  of  deprfssion  sets  in, 
there  will  be  this  special  feature :  The  commercial  anthoritiea  of  the  country 
will  refuse'to  listen  to  the  cause  here  foreshadowed;  every  possible  attempt  will 
be  made  to  prove  that  the  decline  of  commerce  is  due  to  all  sorts  of  causes  and 
irreconciLible  matters;  the  workman  and  his  striken  will  be  the  first  convenient 
target;  then  speculating  and  over  trading  will  have  their  turn.  *  *  *  Many 
other  allegations  will  be  made  totally  irrelevant  to  the  real  issue,  but  satisfac- 
tory to  the  moralizing  tendency  of  financial  writers.  The  Q:reat  danger  of  the 
time  will  then  be  that,  among  all  this  confusion  and  strife,  England's  supremacy 
in  commerce  and  manufactures  may  go  backward  to  an  extent  which  cannot  be 
redressed  when  the  real  cause  becomes  recognized,  and  the  natural  remedy  is 
applied." 

I  venture  to  assert  that -there  is  not  a  prophecy  in  the  'vhole  of  the  Bible 
which  has  been  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  fuUfilled  as  thig  prophecy  of  Ernert 
Seyd. 

As  the  London  Financial  News  said  on  February  24 : 

"The  world's  commerce  is  reeling  to  a  crisis,  yet  th^  miaohiff  from  the  apprecif 
<iiionof  gold  HAS  ONLY  BEGUN." 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  59 


CHAPTER  XI. 

CONCLUSION.— SERIOUS  CHARGES. 

If  I  am  not  mistaken,  those  who  have  followed  me  thus  far  will  have  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  a  hopeless  task  to  attempt  to  set  things  to  rights  by 
eupporting  the  old  parties. 

I  charge  the  Republican  leaders  with  being  the  williDg  tools  of  the  money  power 
in  its  infernal  conspiracy  to  enslave  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

Under  their  guidance  the  good  ship  "Republic"  was  first  led  from  the  high 
«ea8  of  justice,  prosperity  avA  equality  to  all,  into  the  treacherous  waters  of  class 
iegislaiion,  political  corruption  and  commercial  misfortune. 

And  1  charge  the  Democratic  leaders  with  carrying  out  to  the  bitter  end  that 
same  infernal  conspiracy. 

Under  their  guidance  the  good  ship  "REPUiiLic"  is  still  being  headed  for  the 
rocks. 

APPROACHING   DISASTER. 

Already  she  has  left  the  Pacific  Ocean  of  prosperity  behind,  and  is  plunging 
and  staggering  through  the  sea  of  storms. 

Already  more  wealth  has  be©n  thrown  overboard  than  was  destroyed  by 
I  our  years  of  civil  war. 

She  is  speeding  on  towards  the  same  rocks  which  destroyed  the  great 
•empires  of  old. 

Already  the  breakers  that  pound  on  the  cruel  rocks  are  clearly  visible,  and 
many  a  cry  has  gone  out  into  the  wild  night  of  BREAKERS  AHEAD ! 

A    MANIAC   AT   THE    HELM. 

But  the  captain,  instead  of  giving  orders  to  "bout  ship,"  is  crowding  fresh 
•canvass  to  the  gale,  which  will  the  sooner  bring  her  on  the  rocks. 

A  LAST  APPEAL. 

Men  and  brethren,  I  beseech  of  you,  if  you  do  not  want  to  see  the  "Repuplic'' 
;go  to  pieces — amid  the  shouts  of  frenzied  men,  the  cries  of  hopeless  women,  and 
the  sobs  01  starving  children— COME  TO  THE  RESCUE  and  hurl  the  traitors 
from  the  offices  they  have  desecrated,  that  they  may  no  more  enslave  the  people 
they  have  betrayed. 

If  you  do  not  want  to  hear  the  shout  of  war  in  your  land,  the  thunder  of 
dynamite  in  your  cities,  and  the  whistle  of  bullets  about  your  ears,  send  to 
Washington— while  you  may— men  who  will  represent  your  urgent  needs,  and 
relieve  your  dire  necessities,  regardless  of  the  wishes,  bribes,  commands  or 
thrpata  of  the  MONEY  FIEND  which  has   been  for  so  long  gnawing  at  your 

vitals. 

"a  forlorn  hope." 

There  is  but  one  party  which  is  ready,  willing  and  eager  to  tear  from  off  the 

people  the  OCTOPUS  CLASP  of  the  money  power. 

That  party  is  the  PEOPLE'S  PARTY. 

There  is  no  other  name  under  heaven  whereby  salvation  can  come. 

DECEIVERS   ever. 

For  the  fair  promises  of  the  old  parties  have  been  veritable  pie  crusts— fair  to 
look  upon  Bometimei,  but  made  to  be  broken— Dead  Sea  fruit,  looking  like  food, 
bvLt  turning  to  ashes  in  the  mouth. 

THE  PRESENT   SITUATION. 

The  political  situation  at  present  is  something  like  this:    The  financial 


60  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


.storm  which  has  been  for  many  years  sweeping  round  the  world, /rom  one  gold 
standard  country  to  another ^  struck  our  shores  soon  after  the  Democrats  got  into 
office.  The  authorities,  as  in  duty  ( ?)  bound,  went  to  the  Wall  street  men  who 
had  invited  the  storm  here  [See  Appendix  C]  and  asked  them  what  had  better  b& 
done.  Following  their  disinterested  ( ?)  advice,  Cleveland  did  the  very  worst 
things  it  was  possible  for  him  to  do.  The  result  was  that  the  storm  became  » 
hurricane  and  swept  almost  everything  before  it. 

Large  numbers  of  people,  forgetting  that  tbe  storm  is  the  same  storm  that 
has  been  here  before  under  Bepublican  rule,  accept  the  Republican  suggestion  that 
the  storm  was  raised  by  the  Democrats. 

The  consequence  is  that  the  Democratic  party  outside  of  Congress  is  a  party^ 
of  the  past.  After  their  term  of  office  is  out  there  will  be  nothing  to  fear  from 
them  for  many  a  long  day  to  come. 

REPUBLICAN  TRICKS. 

At  present  the  great  aim  of  the  Republicans  is  to  persuade  the  people  to- 
look  to  them  for  relief  .  This  is  the  meaning  of  Benjamin  Harrison's  speech  the 
other  day  in  Colorado. 

They  are  ready  to  undertake  great  reforms.  They  will  promise  free  silver  if 
the  people  demand  it,  and  they  will  again  word  their  platform  ambiguously  so 
as  to  catch  suckers  of  every  kind. 

But  once  in  office  they  will  back  out  of  their  promises,  and  take  advantage 
of  their  ambiguously  worded  platform  to  avoid  reform,  just  as  they  and  th© 
Democrats  have  done  before. 

They  will  give  bastard  bimetallism  instead  of  free  coinage. 

If  compelled  to  give  free  silver,  they  will  make  it  25  to  1,  or  will  devise  some" 
other  plan  of  taking  away  with  one  hand  what  they  give  with  the  other. 

Even  if  they  desire  to  give  the  people  relief  they  cannot  do  it,  for  they  are 
bound  hand  and  foot  to  the  money  power  of  Europe  and  Wall  street. 

The  brokers  of  London  will  pull  the  strings,  and  the  Republican  puppets 
will  be  compelled  to  dance  at  their  master's  command. 

To  put  the  Republicans  in  power  would  be  to  rivet  the  chains  of  slavery  and 
make  the  distress  permanent.    For  nine-tenths  of  the  mischief  was  done  while? 
the  Republicans  themselves  were  in  power. 

A  wise  bird  is  not  to  be  caught  twice  in  the  same  trap. 

A  party  which  has  ever  deceived  is  not  worthy  of  confidence. 

A  siren  whose  songs  have  ever  lured  the  unwary  to  destruction  should  b©^ 
passed  by  on  the  other  side. 

TAKE  YOUR  CHOICE. 

Choose  ye,  then,  this  day,  whom  ye  will  serve,  for  ye  cannot  serve  God  and", 
mammon. 

If  the  moloch  of  mammon  be  your  god,  then  serve  it  in  fetters  of  gold,  and;^ 
hand  down  to  your  children  a  heritage  of  slavery,  want,  crime  and  shame. 

But  if  liberty,  equa  ity  and  fraternity  be  your  trinity  in  unity,  cast  down  the 
golden  calf  and  help  to  bring  back  prosperity  to  a  sorrowing  world. 

A  LAST  WARNING. 

And  now  I  have  something  to  say  unto  you,  O  spirit  of  mammon. 

We,  the  producers  of  this  broad  land,  have  had  our  rights  bartered  away  t9^ 
you.    We  are  fast  being  reduced  to  a  state  that  is  worse  than  physical  alavery" 

Whence  did  you  get  your  authority  to  tyranize  over  us? 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  61 


You  received  no  franchise  from  the  All  Mighty  to  withhold  the  earth  from 
Hie  people. 

You  received  no  orders  from  the  All  Father  to  enslave  the  nations  who  are 
his  children. 

You  received  no  permission  from  the  All  Righteous  to  drive  your  brethren 
into  misery,  starvation,  suicide  and  crime. 

Yet  you  have  done  all  this,  and  you  are  daily  drawing  your  octopus  clasp 
tighter  round  the  producers  of  the  world. 

The  time  has  come  when  this  must  be  stopped.     And  it  shall  be  stopped. 

We  do  not  expect  sweet  incense  from  a  skunk.  Neither  do  we  expect  mercy 
or  juetioa  from  you. 

We  are  going  to  free  ourselves  without  consulting  your  wishes.  We  were 
made  for  freedom,  and  we  are  going  to  be  free. 

It  is  too  late  now  for  you  to  set  us  fighting  one  another. 

You  cannot  deceive  us  any  longer  by  sham  fights  and  falpe  issues. 

We  mean  business.    We  are  going  to  get  back  the  rights  you  have  robbed  us  of- 
And  we  are  going  to  get  our  rights  peaceably  if  we  can. 

If  our  hands  are  not  forced  by  those  who  are  starving,  we  are  going  to  fight 
you  once  more  by  the  ballot. 

But  beware  1  If  the  ballot  fails,  if  we  cannot  get  our  rights  peaceably,  we 
iire  going  to  get  them  all  the  same,  if  every  millionaire  in  the  broad  land  swings 
trrom  a  lamp  post. 

Bo  have  a  care  what  you  are  abouU 


62  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


APPENDIX. 


{Al    THE  HAZZARD  CIRCULAR. 

Issued  in  1862  by  an  agent  of  London  capitalists  to  New  York  capitalists. 
For  proofs  of  authenticity  see  Chicago  Express,  M  vrch  17,  1894. 

Slavery  is  likely  to  be  abolished  by  the  war  power,  and  chattel  slavery 
destroyed.  This,  I  and  my  European  friends  are  in  favor  of,  for  slavery  is  but 
the  owning  of  labor  and  carries  with  it  the  care  for  the  laborer,  while  the 
European  plan,  led  oq  by  Entrland,  is  for  capital  to  control  labor  by  controlling 
wages.  THIS  CAN  BE  DONE  BY  CONTROLLING  THE  MONEY.  The 
great  debt  that  capitalists  will  see  to  it  is  made  out  of  the  war  must  be  used  as  a 
means  to  control  the  volume  of  money,  to  accomplish  this  the  bonds  must  be 
used  as  a  banking  basis.  We  are  now  waiting  for  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
to  made  the  recommendation  to  Congress.  It  will  not  do  to  allow  the  greenback 
as  it  is  called,  to  circulate  as  money  any  length  of  time,  as  we  cannot  control  that. 


[B]    THE  BUELL  CIRCULAR. 

Afterwards  issued  by  New  Yark  bankers  to  the  National  bankers.  Colonel 
Norton  of  the  Sentinel  has  an  original  copy  of  this  circular. 

Dear  Sir  :  It  is  advisable  to  do  all  in  your  posver  to  sustain  such  prominent 
daily  and  weekly  newspapers,  especially  the  agricultural  and  religious  presg,  as 
will  oppose  the  issuing  of  greenback  paper  money,  and  that  you  also  withhold 
patronage  or  favors  from  all  applicants  who  are  not  willing  to  oppose  the  govern- 
ment issue  of  money.  Let  the  Government  issue  the  coin  and  the  banks  issue 
the  paper  money  of  the  country,  for  then  we  can  better  protect  each  other.  To 
repeal  the  law  creating  National  bank  notee,  or  to  restore  to  circulation  the 
Government  issue  of  money  will  be  to  provide  the  people  with  money,  and  will 
therefore  seriously  affect  your  individual  profit  as  bankers  and  lenders.  See 
your  Congressman  at  once,  and  engage  him  to  support  our  intereafs  that  we  may 
control  legislation.  James  Buell, 

Secretary,  247  Broadway. 


[CJ    THE  PANIC  BULLETIN. 

Issued  March  12,  1893,  by  Bankers'  Association  to  all  National  banks. 

Dear  Sir  :  The  interests  of  National  bankers  require  immediate  financial 
Iptgislation  by  Congress.  Silver,  silver  certificates  and  treasury  notes  must  be 
retired,  and  the  National  bank  note -■  upon  a  gold  basis  made  the  only  monev. 
This  will  require  the  authorization  of  frooi  $500,000,000  to  $1,000,000,000  of  new 
bonds  as  a  basis  of  circulation.  You  will  at  once  retire  one-third  of  your  circu- 
lation and  call  in  one-half  of  your  loan?.  Be  careful  to  make  a  money  stringency 
felt  among  your  patrons,  especially  among  influential  business  men.  Advocate 
an  extra  session  of  Congress  for  the  repeal  of  the  purchasing  clause  of  the 
Sherman  law  and  act  with  the  other  bankers  of  your  city  in  securing  a  large 
petition  to  Congress  for  its  unconditional  repeal,  per  accompanying  form.  Use 
personal  influence  with  Congressmen  and  particularly  let  your  wishes  be  known 
to  your  Senators.  The  future  life  of  National  banks  as  fixed  and  safe  investments 
depends  upon  immediate  action,  as  thf^re  is  an  increasing  sentiment  in  favor  of 
Government  legal  tender  notes  and  silver  coinage. 

The  result  of  this  circular  was  that  in  five  months  the  National  banks  called 
in  more  that  three  hundred  millions  of  their  loans.  [See  page  333,  Chicago  News 
Almanac] 

The  resulting  panic  was  so  severe  that  the  bankers  were  caught  in  their  own 
trap,  and  many  of  the  banks  went  under. 


IvREAKERS  AHEAD.  63 


[DJ    EXTRA  SESSION  CIRCULAR. 

An  oiiginal  copy  of  this  letter  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Chicago  Express. 

XtlK     AMERICAN      BANKERS'    ASSOCIATION. 

No.  a  Wall  St.  and  90-94  Broadway.    Room  No-  44. 


New  York,  August  19,  1893. 
To  the  Bankers  of  the  United  States : 

Gentlemen. — The  extraordinary  money  crisis  through  which  the  Unite'' 
States  are  now  passing,  which  involves  the  banks  of  the  country  to  an  extert 
that  compels  their  offijers  to  remain  constantly  at  the  po^t  of  duty  while  thb 
danger  is  imminent,  has  constrained  the  American  Bankers'  Af^sociation  to 
indefinitely  postpone  its  annual  convention,  called  for  the  6th  and  7th  prox.  at 
Chicago.  This  will  prevent  such  expression  upon  the  part  of  the  Association  as 
the  financial  situation  demands,  which  otherwise  would  be  made.  It  thus 
becomes  the  duty  of  the  oftlcers  of  the  Association  to  speak  for  it  at  this  time, 
and  suggest  what  seems  to  them  to  be  the  proper  action  for  the  bankers  of  the 
country  to  immediately  take  with  a  view  to  obtaining  speedy  relief  from  the 
continued  and  disastrous  stringency. 

It  is  manifest  that  the  immediate  cause  of  the  prolonged  stringency  is  the 
fear  and  apprehension  of  disaster  engendered  in  the  minds  of  the  people  by  the 
continued  purchase  of  silver  by  the  Government,  and  by  the  unceasing  issues  of 
its  obligat  ons  therefor,  redeemable  in  gold,  which  fear  and  apprehension  can 
only  be  removed  and  confidence  restored  by  the  removal  cf  the  cause.  It  is 
believed  that  the  bankers  of  the  country  will  understand  and  realize  this  to  as 
great,  if  not  to  a  greater,  extent  than  any  other  class  of  citizens,  and  it  therefore 
becomes  the  duty  of  such  of  them  as  fully  realize  this  to  urge  upon  their  fellow 
citizens,  and  upon  Congress,  the  great  necessitv  for  the  immerl  ate  and  uncon- 
ditional repeal  of  the  purchasing  clause  of  the  Sherman  Silver  Ace. 

The  repeal  of  this  clause  )8  demanded  in  the  inteiests  oi  those  favorhig  a 
gold  standard,  a  ad  of  those  favoring  the  use  of  silver  with  gold,  as  the  continued 
purchase  of  enormous  quantities  of  silver  with  gold  obligation?  can  only  result  in 
the  final  inability  of  the  Government  to  redeem  such  obligations  in  gold,  and  in 
the  continued  over-production  and  conseciuent  further  depreciation  of  silver, 
tbus  rendering  the  prospect  of  any  international  agreement  for  its  more  general 
use  throughout  the  world  more  hopeless  than  at  present. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  having  convened  Congress  in  extra 
eepsion  and  recommended  to  it  such  repeal,  the  power  of  public  opinion  should 
be  brought  to  bear  upon  Congress,  to  induce  favorable  action  thereon.  This 
may  best  be  done  bv  inv^oking  the  aid  of  the  press,  and  by  citizens  writing  to 
their  Senators  and  Representatives,  and  by  sending  to  them  petitions  urging 
such  repeal ;  all  of  which  should  be  done  to  the  fullest  extent  possible,  and 
without  delay. 

A  blank  form  of  petition  is  enclosed,  to  be  circulated  among  merchants, 
1  usiness  men  t<nd  others  for  their  signatures,  to  which  additional  sheets  may  be 
appended.  Act  at  once  in  the  matter  and  secure  the  intelligent  co-operation  oi 
others,  providing  them  with  printed  or  typewritten  copies  of  the  petition  for  the 
lurpose.  Respectfully, 

William  H.  Rawn,  Presid'^nt. 

E.  H.  PuLLEN,  Chairman  Executive  Council. 

H.  W.  Fi'KD,  Secretary. 


[E]     EVIDENCE  ON  THE  DEMONETIZATION  FRAUD  OF  1873. 

The  following  is  taken  from  an  article  in  the  San  Francisco  Chronicle  of 
A.ugust  5,  1893,  by  John  P.  Young. 

"The  entire  avoidance  of  all  discussion  of  the  pssible  consequences  01 
striking  an  important  coin  from  the  list  of  coins  authorized  by  tDe  United 
States,  and  the  further  fact  that  no  reference  whatever  was  made  to  the  legal 
lender  quality  of  the  coin  stricken  from  the  list  are  strong  points   m  favor  of  ihe 


64  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


contention  that  a  select  few  understood  the  matter,  and  that  their  purpose  was 
to  keep  the  house  in  ignorance  of  their  object.  That  there  may  be  no  mistake 
on  this  point,  we  quote  the  following  from  the  Congressional  Becord  of  May  28. 
1873,  showing  thf  evident  anxiety  of  Chairman  Hooper  to  force  through  his  bill, 
and  the  actual  misrepresentation  resorted  to  by  him  to  accomplish  this  purpose: 

Mr.  Holman— I  suppose  it  is  intended  to  have  the  bill  read  before  it  is  pnt 
on  its  passage. 

The  Speaker — The  substitute  will  be  read. 

Mr.  Hooper  of  Maesachu«e  ts — I  hope  not.  It  is  a  long  bill,  and  those  who 
are  interested  in  it  are  perfectly  familiar  with  its  provisions. 

Mr.  Kerr — ^The  rules  cannot  be  suspended  so  as  to  dispense  with  the  reading 
of  the  bill. 

The  Speaker — They  can  be. 

Mr.  Kerr— I  want  the  House  to  understand  that  it  is  attempted  to  put 
through  this  bill  without  being  read. 

The  Speaker — Do  s  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Hooper)  move 
that  the  reading  of  the  bill  be  disppnsed  with? 

Mr.  Hooper  of  Massachusetts — I  will  so  frame  my  motion  to  suspend  the 
rules  that  it  will  di  pense  with  the  reading  of  the  bill. 

The  Speaker— The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  moves  tl^at  the  rules 
be  suspended  and  that  the  bill  pass,  the  reading  thereof  being  dispensed  with. 

Mr.  Randall — Cannot  we  have  a  division  of  that  motion? 

The  Speaker — A  motion  to  suspend  the  rules  cannot  be  divided, 

Mr.  Randall — I  should  like  to  have  the  bill  read,  although  I  am  willing  that 
the  rules  shall  be  suspended  as  lo  the  passage  of  the  bill. 

The  question  was  put  on  suspending  the  rules  and  passing  the  bill  without 
reading,  and  (two-thirds  not  voting  in  favor  thereof)  the  rules  were  not 
puspended. 

Mr.  Hooper  of  Massachusetts — I  now  move  that  the  rules  be  suspended  and 
the  substitute  for  the  bill  in  relation  to  mints  and  coinage  passed,  and  I  ask  that 
the  substitute  be  read. 

The  clerk  began  to  read  the  substitute. 

Mr.  Brooks — Is  that  the  original  bill? 

The  Speaker — The  motion  of  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  (Mr. 
Hooper)  applies  to  the  substitute,  and  that  on  which  the  House  is  called  to  act 
is  being  read. 

Mr.  Brooks — As  there  is  to  be  no  debate  the  only  chance  we  have  to  know 
what  we  are  doing  is  to  have  both  the  bill  and  the  substitute  read. 

The  Speaker— The  motion  of  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  being  to 
suspend  the  rules  and  pass  the  substitute  it  gives  no  choice  between  the  two 
bills.    The  House  must  either  pass  the  substitute  or  none. 

Mr.  Brooks— Ho  ^v  can  we  choose  between  the  original  bill  and  the  substitute 
unless  we  hear  them  both  read? 

The  Speaker— The  gentleman  can  vote  "aye"  or  **no"  on  the  question 
whether  this  substitute  shall  be  passed. 

Mr.  Brooks— I  am  very  much  in  the  habit  of  voting ''no"  when  I  do  not 
know  what  is  going  on. 

Mr.  Holman— Before  the  question  is  taken  upon  suspending  the  rules  and 
passing  the  bill  I  hope  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  will  explain  the 
leading  changes  made  by  this  bill  in  the  existing  law,  especially  in  reference  to 
the  coinage.  It  would  seem  that  all  the  small  coinage  of  the  country  is  intended 
to  be  racoined.  . 

Mr.  Hooper  ol  Massachusetts— This  bill  makes  no  changes  m  the  existing 
law  in  that  regard.    It  does  not  require  the  recoinage  of  the  small  coins. 
*****♦• 

The  question  being  taken  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Hooper  of  Massachusetts  to 
suspend  the  rules  and  pass  the  bill,  it  was  agreed  to,  there  being  110  ayes  and 
1.3  noes 

It  is  singular  that/ the  i?ecord,  usually  so  accurate,  leaves  the  matter  in 
doubt  whether  the  substitute  bill  was  ever  read  at  length.    Evidence  outside  the 


BREAKERS  AHEAD.  65 


Record  has  been  produced  to  show  that  it  was,  and  there  are  some  passages  in 
the  debate  which  makes  the  fact  probable,  but  there  is  no  proof  whatever  that 
any  one  outside  the  committee  understood  the  vital  importance  of  the  move,  but 
the  above  quoted  debate  presents  intrinsic  evidence  that  Mr.  Hooper  had 
grasped  its  significance,  for  we  see  that  in  response  to  a  direct  request  for  an 
explanation  of  the  leading  changes  made  by  the  bill  he  replied:  "This  bill 
makes  no  changes  in  the  existing  law  in  that  regard.  It  does  not  require  the 
recoinage  of  small  coin?,"  which  reply  must  have  conveyed  the  impression  to 
every  listener  that  there  were  no  changes  of  importance. 


[F]    THE  ERNEST  SEYD  CASE. 

THE  LUCKENBACH  AFFIDAVIT. 


State  op  Colorado,  ) 
County  of  Arapahce.    J 

Frederick  A.  Luckenbach,  first  being  duly  sworn  on  oath,  deposes  and  says: 

I  am  62  years  of  age.  I  was  born  in  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania.  I  removed 
to  the  city  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  year  1846,  and  continued  to  reside  there  until 
1866,  when  I  removed  to  the  city  of  New  York.  In  Philadelphia  I  was  in  the 
furniture  business.  In  New  York  I  branched  into  machinery  and  inventions, 
and  am  the  patentee  of  Luckenback's  pneumatic  pulverizer,  which  machines 
are  in  use  generally  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States  and  Europe.  I 
now  reside  in  Denver,  having  removed  from  New  York  two  years  ago.  I  am 
well  known  in  New  York.  I  have  been  a  member  of  the  produce  exchange  and 
am  well  acquainted  with  many  members  of  that  body.  I  am  well  known  by  Mr. 
Eratns  Wiman. 

In  the  year  1865  I  visited  London,  England,  for  the  purpose  of  placing  there 
Pennsylvania  oil  properties,  in  which  I  was  interested.  I  took  with  me  letters 
of  introduction  to  many  gentlemen  in  London— among  them  one  Ernest  Seyd 
from  Robert  M.  Foust,  ex-Treasurer  of  Philadelphia.  I  became  well  acquainted 
with  Mr.  Seyd,  and  with  his  brother,  Robert  Seyd,  who,  I  understand  is  yet 
living.  I  visited  Ix>ndon  thereafter  every  year,  and  at  each  visit  renewed  my 
acquaintance  with  Mr.  Seyd,  and  upon  each  occasion  became  his  guest  one  or 
more  times — joining  his  family  at  dinner  or  other  meals. 

In  February,  1874,  while  on  one  of  these  visits,  and  while  his  guest  for 
dinner,  I,  among  other  things,  alluded  to  rumors  afloat  of  parliamentary  cor- 
ruption, and  expressed  astonishment  that  such  corruption  should  exist.  In 
reply  to  this  he  told  me  that  he  could  relate  facts  about  the  corruption  of  the 
American  Congress  that  would  place  it  far  ahead  of  the  English  parliament  in 
that  line. 

So  far,  the  conversation  was  at  the  dinner  table  between  us.  His  brother, 
Richard,  and  others,  were  there  also,  but  thia  was  table  talk  between  Mr.  Seyd 
and  myself.  After  the  dinner  ended  he  invited  me  to  another  room,  where  he 
resumed  the  conversation  about  legislative  corruption.    He  said : 

"If  you  will  pledge  me  your  honor  as  a  gentleman  not  to  divulge  what  I  am 
about  to  tell  you  while  I  live,  I  will  convince  yru  that  what  I  said  about  the 
corruption  of  the  American  Congress  is  true." 

I  gave  bim  the  promise,  and  he  then  continued : 

"I  went  to  America  in  the  winter  of  1872  3,  authorized  to  secure,  if  I  could, 
the  passage  of  a  bill  demonetizing  silver.  It  was  to  the  interest  of  those  I 
represented— the  Governors  of  the  Bank  of  England— to  have  it  done.  I  took 
with  me  £100,000  sterling,  with  instructions  if  that  was  not  sufficient  to  accom- 
plish the  object,  to  draw  for  another  £100,000,  or  as  much  more  as  necessary. 

He  told  me  German  bankers  were  also  interested  in.having  it  accomplished. 
He  said  he  was  the  financial  adviser  of  the  bank.    He  said : 

"I  saw  the  committees  of  the  House  and  Senate,  and  paid  the  money  and 
stayed  in  America  until  I  knew  the  measure  was  safe."  ^       ,         .     t     , 

I  asked  if  he  would  give  me  the  names  of  the  members  to  whom  he  bad 
paid  the  money ;  but  this  he  declined  to  do.    He  said  :  ^     ^    .  ^u  * 

"Your  people  will  not  now  comprehend  the  far  reaching  extent  of  tba. 
measure,  but  they  will  in  after  years.    Whatever  jou  may  think  o£  corrupUon  m 


66  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


the  English  parliament,  I  assure  you,  I  would  not  have  dared  to  make  such  an 
attempt  here,  as  I  did  in  your  country." 

I  expressed  my  shame  to  him  for  my  countrymen  in  our  legislative  bodies. 
The  conversation  drifted  into  other  subjects,  and  after  that — though  I  met  him 
many  times — the  matter  was  never  again  referred  to. 

(Signed.)    Frederick  A.  Luckenbach. 
Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  at  Denver,  this  ninth  day  of  May,  1892. 

(Signed.)    James  A.  Miller. 
[Seal.]  Clerk  Supreme  Court  State  Colorado. 


HOOPER  ON  ERNEST  SEYD. 

The  mint  bill  which  demonetized  silver  in  1873  was  signed  in  the  House  by 
the  Hon.  S.  Hooper.  During  the  discussion  he  made  a  speech  which  was 
printed  in  the  Congressioruil  Qlobe,  at  that  time  the  official  record  of  Congressional 
proceedings.    In  the  course  of  that  speech  he  said : 

**Mr.  Ernest  Seyd  of  London,  a  distinguished  writer  who  has  given  much 
attention  to  the  subject  of  mint  and  coinage,  after  examining  tbe  first  draft  of  the 
bill,  furnished  many  valuable  suggestions  which  have  been  incorporated  in  this 
bill."— Volume  89.,  page  2304.     April  9,  1873. 

Ernest  Seyd's  son  has  lately  denied  that  his  father  was  in  America  at  that 
time,  but  as  a  bill  pending  in  Congress  could  not  be  sent  oflf  to  London  to  be 
improved  upon  by  a  foreigner,  this  record  is  an  absolute  proof  ihat  Ernest  Seyd 
was  in  America  and  did  help  to  get  the  bill  passed. 

SENATOR  DAWES  ON  ERNEST  SEYD. 

The  Congressional  Record  gives  a  speech  made  on  December  11,  1877,  by 
Senator  Dawes  of  Massachusetts.  The  Senator  was  trying  to  rebut  the  charge 
that  the  mint  bill  of  1873  had  been  passed  by  improper  means.  Speaking  of 
Ernest  Seyd,  he  said  that  he— 

"Was  here  at  that  time  and  has  been  here  since." 

The  Senator's  chief  argument  against  Seyd  having  anything  to  do  with  the 
demonetization  of  silver  was  that  he — 

"Has  been  delivering  lectures  in  this  country  in  favor  of  the  very  object  that 
this  bill,  when  it  became  a  law,  controverted." — Part  I,  Volume  7,  page  125. 

DAVID  A.  WELLS  ON  ERNEST  SEYD. 

In  the  October  Forum,  David  A.  Wells  who  wrote  considerably  on  financial 
matters  before  1873,  says : 

"There  was  a  mm  by  the  name  of  Seyd  and  he  was  in  this  country  in  1872, 
but  he  was  not  a  gold  bug,  but  a  friend  of  silver,  and  he  wi  ote  a  long  letter  to  a 
leading  member  of  Congress  (Mr.  Samuel  Hooper)  protesting  against  the  coinage 
act  of  1873." 

summary  of   SE-iD   CASE. 

These  quotations  from  Senator  Dawes  and  David  A.  Wells,  whilst  they  agree 
with  the  Hon.  S.  Hooper,  F.  A.  Luckenbach  and  others,  that  Ernest  Seyd  v>a8 
in  America  at  the  time,  say  that  he  was  against  the  demenetization  of  silver. 
This  is  probably  correct,  but  that  very  fact  would  make  him  the  very  man  for 
the  job  if  he  could  be  bought  over. 

For  the  same  can  be  said  of  Carlisle,  R.  Q.  Mills,  Voorhies,  J.  Gordon  and 
J.  Sherman.  They  all  spoke  or  wrote  against  the  demonetization  of  silver,  and 
they  were  all  bought  over  by  the  gold  bugs  of  Wall  street.  Some  of  them 
professed  to  be  friendly  to  silver  at  the  very  time  they  were  getting  in  their 
deadly  work. 


BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


67 


Representative  Finley  and  others  gave  currency  to  the  tollowing,  which  was 
said  to  be  from  the  Bankers^  Magazine  for  August,  1873 : 

"In  1872,  pilver  being  demonetized  in  France,  England  and  Holland,  a 
capital  ot  $500,000  was  raifced  and  Ernest  Seyd  of  London  was  sent  to  this  country 
with  this  fund,  aa  agent  for  the  foreign  bondholders  and  caoitali«ts  to  effect  the 
same  object  [demonetization  of  silver],  which  was  accomplished." 

The  Bankers^  Magazine  of  New  York  says  that  this  paragraph  never  appeared 
in  its  columns.  There  are  other  cities  which  have  Bankers^  Magazines,  but 
wht  ther  it  is  authentic  or  not  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain. 


[G]    TABLE  OF  PRICES,  ETC.,  COTTON,  CORN,  WHEAT  AND  SILVER. 


YEAR. 


IN  CHICAGO  MARKET 


w8 


ts 


^2 

fej  o 


1872 


1879. 

1880. 

1881. 

1882. 

1883. 

1884. 

1885 

1886. 

1887. 

1888. 

1889. 

1890 

1891. 

1892 

1893 

1894. 


19.3 

18.8 

15.5 

15.0 

12.9 

11.8 

11.1 

9.9 

11.6 

11.4 

11.4 

10  8 

10.5 

10.6 

9.9 

95 

9.8 

9.9 

10.2 

9.0 

8.7 

7.3 


$1  47 


34 


31 
43 
12 
24 
17 
34 
07 
25 
11 
19 
13 
1  07 
86 
87 
89 
85 
90 
83 
85 
80 
72 
57 


$1  32 
1  29 
1  27 
I  24 


15 
20 
16 
12 
14 
13 
13 
11 
01 
06 
99 
97 
93 
93 
04 
90 
86 
78 
60 


AVERAGE   WHEAT  CROP  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 

.OKI  an  1,198.000.000  bu^^hels 

IS^Ian 1,794.000,000  bushels 

■^°'^'^" 2,271.000,000  bushels 


1881-88 . 


— Mulhall. 


1  QQo  Qo  2,246,000.000  bushels 

^^^^-y^ — Beerbohm's. 

The  population  is  still  increasing,  but  the  production  of  wheat  is  stationary. 
What  about  overproduction  ? 

THE  PRICE  OF  WHEAT. 

The  San  FranciEco  Chronicle  of  March  31,  1894,  has  the  following  on  this 
Bubject : 


68 


BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


"When  we  examine  the  records  and  price  liste  we  find  that  although  the 
production  of  wheat  increased  at  the  annual  average  rate  of  596,000,000  bushels 
between  1851  and  1870  prices  steadily  advanced  during  the  whole  neriod.  In 
1873,  when  silver  was  demonetized  in  this  country,  they  began  to  decline,  and 
have  been  falling  constantly  since. 

To  establish  the  truth  of  this  contention  it  is  only  necessary  to  reproduce  the 
table  of  average  prices  of  English  wheat  frorr  1851  to  1873  and  from  1873  to  1889. 
English  wheat  is  selected,  as  the  prices  are  less  aflftcted  by  epsculation.  The 
figures  are  from  Mulhall : 


Year.  Per  Ton 

1851 £  9  13f^ 

1852 10    4 

1853 13    iB 

1854 18    2 

1855 18  14p 


1856. 
1857. 
1858. 
1859. 
1860. 


17    6e 

14    2> 

11     U 

11    Oa 

13    6e 

1861 13  178 


Year.  Per  Ton. 

1862... £13  178 

1863 11     48 

1864 10    18 

1865 10    5a 

1866 12  10a 


1867. 
1868. 
1869. 
1870. 
1871, 
1872. 


16  2a 
16  Ob 
12  la 
11  15s 
14  43 
14    58 


"From  the  above  table  it  will  be  seen  that  between  1851  and  1872  the  price  of 
wheat  advanced  steadily.  There  were  variations  in  the  average,  due  to  short 
and  long  crops,  but  the  tendency  was  always  upwards.  After  1873  this  process 
was  reversed.  From  the  same  source  ai  the  above  we  derive  the  following 
average  prices  of  English  wheat  between  1872  and  1889: 


Year.  Per  Ton 

1873 £14  14^ 

1874 14    9b 

1875 11    5p 

1876  11  llB 

1877 14    4p 

1878 11  128 

1879 11    Os 

1880 11    2s 

1881 11    7s 


Year.  Per  Ton. 

1882 £11    68 

1883 10    88 

1884 8  19a 

1885 8    5a 

1886  7  158 

1887  8    3s 

1888 9    Os 

1889 7  143 


"There  is  no  escape  from  the  logic  of  these  fiaures.  They  show  unmistak- 
ably that  during  the  first  period,  when  the  production  of  wheat  was  increasing 
more  rapidly  than  since  1873,  prices  were  steadily  going  up,  while  in  the  latter 
period,  with  a  smaller  average  increa-^eof  production,  they  have  steadily  declined. 

"But  if  these  facts  are  not  sufficiently  conclusive  it  ou-^ht  to  be  sufficient 
to  dispose  of  the  assumption  that  the  present  phenomenally  low  price  of  wheat  is 
the  result  of  increased  production  if  we  show  that  in  years  of  great  yields,  namely 
1891  92,  prices  were  higher  than  in  1893,  which  showed  a  diminished  production. 
In  the  money  article  of  the  New  York  Tribune  of  March  19th,  we  find  this 
statement : 

"  'The  average  price  of  wheat  per  bushel  at  the  port  of  New  York  for  March 
thus  far,  only  62.05  cents,  is  13.83  cents  lower  than  March  of  last  year,  and 
51.82  cents  lower  than  in  March,  1891.' 

"As  the  world's  production  was  nearly  70,000  bushels  less  in  1893  than  in 
1891,  it  will  be  hard  to  explain  a  drop  of  nearly  52  cents  a  bushel  by  saying  that 
it  is  due  to  overproduction. 

There  can  only  be  one  explanation  of  the  curious  phenomena  under  discua- 
Bion,  and  that  is  the  one  furnished  by  the  bimetallis'a,  namely,  that  the 
destruction  of  one-half  of  the  world's  money,  by  making  the  remaining  half  do 
all  the  work  of  measuring  values,  has  caused  a  general  depreciation  in  prices, 
which  is  only  another  wav  of  saying  that  gold  has  been  made  dearer  to  the  whole 
world  of  producers,  who  are  forced  to  buy  it  with  their  products." 


BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


[H]    REPUBLICANS  AND  SILVER. 

The  Republicans  claim  to  be  the  friends  of  silver.  Here  is  their  record 
taken  from  the  Congressional  Record: 

In  the  House  April  8,  1886— Republicans  for  silver  30;  Republicans  against  98 
In  the  House  June  7,  1890— Republicans  for  silver  15 ;  Republicans  against  127 
In  the  House  June  25,  1890— Republicans  for  silver  23;  R^^publicans  against  130 
In  the  Senate  June  17,  1890— Republicans  for  silver  15;  Republicans  against  21 
In  the  House  March  24, 1892— Republicans  for  silver  11 ;  Republicans  against  67 
In  the  Senate  July  2,  1892— Republicans  for  silver  11 ;  Republicans  against  19 
In  the  House  July  13,  1892— Republicans  for  silver  9;  Republicans  against  60 
In  the  House  August  23, 1893— Republicans  for  silver  13;  Republicans  against  111 
In  the  House  March  1, 1894— Republicans  for  silver  19;  Republicans  against   71 

Total,  146 /or  silver  and  705  against  it. 

[I]    FOREIGN  LAND  OWNERS. 
Here  is  a  list  of  some  of  our  foreign  land  owners,  taken  from  "A  New  OrieiB,*' 
by  Captain  Bell. 

NAMES.  ACRES. 

An  Engl  sh  Syndicate,  No.  3,  in  Texas 3  000,000 

The  Holland  Land  Company,  New  Mexico 4,500,000 

Sir  Edward  Reid  and  a  syndicate  in  Florida 2,000,000 

English  Syndicate  in  Mississippi 1  800,000 

Marquis  of  Tweedale 1,750  000 

Phillips,  Marshall  &  Co.,  London 1,300,000 

German  S3  ndica-e 2,100,000 

Anglo-American  Syndicate,  Mr.  Rogers,  President,  London 750,000 

Bryan  H.  Evans  of  London,  in  Mississippi 700,000 

Duke  of  Sutherland 425  000 

British  Land  Company,  in  Kansas 320,000 

William  Whalley,  M.  P.  Peterboro,  England 310,000 

Missouri  Land  Company,  Edinburgh,  Scotland 300,000 

Robert  Tennant  of  London 230,000 

Dundee  Land  Company,  Scotland 247,000 

Lonl  Dunmore 120,000 

Beniamin  Newgas,  Liverpool 100,000 

Lord  Houghton,  in  Florida 60,000 

Lord  Dunraven,  in  Colorado 60,000 

English  Land  Company,  in  Florida 50.000 

English  Land  Company,  in  Arkansas 50,000 

Alexander  Grant  of  London,  in  Kansas 35,000 

English  Syndicate,  represented  by  Close  Brothers,  Wisconsin 110,000 

M.  Ellerhauser  of  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  in  West  Vh-ginia 600,000 

A  Scotch  Syndicate,  in  Florida 500,000 

A.  Boyson,  Danish  Consul,  in  Milwaukee 50,000 

Missouri  Land  Company  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland 165,000 

Total 20,700,000 

This  list  does  not  include  the  railroad  lands,  which  are  also  owned  by  the 
foreigners  who  own  the  railroads.  The  railroad  lands  cover  an  area  as  large  as 
England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Germany  and  France. 

[J]    THE  UNEMPLOYED  PROBLEM. 
The  following  article  from  the  San  Francisco  Examiner  of  December  28,  1893, 
is  worthy  of  the  attention  of  all  who  are  interested  in  the  welfare  of  their  fellowfl. 
Not  being  able  to  improve  on  it,  I  give  it  as  it  is  without  comment. 

MR.  Bellamy's  scheme. 
"A  correspondent  suggests  that  the  expedient  proposed  by  Edward  Bellamy 


rO  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


in  the  New  Nation  would  be  a  better  mode  of  relieving  tbe  distress  of  the  unem- 
ployed than  that  of  undertaking  vast  publi^i  works.  Mr.  Bellamy's  plan  ia  that 
of  state  aided  co-operation.  Against  the  public  improvements  scheme  he  objects : 

"  *In  the  first  place  no  community  can  afford  to  sink  such  vast  sums  in 
extraordinary  public  works  ae  would  be  necessary  in  a  crisis  like  this  to  provide 
anything  like  work  enough  for  the  idle.  In  the  second  place,  the  sort  of  work 
offered  by  such  undertakings  is  just  digging.  Not  one  in  three  of  the  men 
thrown  out  of  work  at  this  time  in  Massachusetts  is  physically  able  to  do  this 
sort  of  work,  because  utterly  unaccustomed  to  it.  Your  average  mill  hand, 
machinist  or  other  indoor  worker  is  an  imbecile  at  shoveling.  Moreover,  women 
who  form  a  large  part  of  the  unemployed,  cannot  even  offer  to  do  this  sort  of 
work  at  all.' 

"Mr.  Bellamy  would  set  the  unemployed  to  work,  not  for  the  state,  but  for 
each  othfr,  *The  whole  industrial  army,'  he  says,  'is  simply  a  more  or  less 
blundering  arrangement  by  which  men  work  to  supply  one  another's  needs, 
whether  of  shoes,  garments,  house  lots,  potatoes  or  beef  st»-ak8,  the  several 
sorts  of  products  being  brought  together  and  exchacged  in  the  market.  The 
unemployed  problem  results  from  the  breakdown  of  this  machinery  of  exchange.' 
The  proper  thing  for  the  Government  to  do,  in  the  opinion  of  the  author  of 
**Jx)oking  Bach  ward,"  is  to  supply  the  place  of  the  broken  down  machine. 

*'  'That  is  to  say,  the  state  should  organize  the  unemployed  workers,  so  that 
they  may  co-operatively  supply  one  another's  needs,  the  state  performing  the 
functions  of  the  broken-down  market  in  bringicg  together  aad  distributing  the 
products, 

"  We  have  stated  the  whole  proposition  when  we  add  that  the  state- organized 
exchange  would  need  to  be  kept  distinct  from  the  outside  market,  substantially 
completing  within  itself  the  circle  of  production  and  consumption." 

This  is  a  scheme  that  would  have  appealed  to  the  late  Senator  Stanford.  Mr. 
Bellamy  thinks  that  its  executir.n  would  be  "  perfectly  simple."  If  he  can  prove 
that,  he  will  have  oroved  his  case,  for  the  end  proposed  is  certainly  desirable  and 
the  doubtful  question  is  simply  one  of  practicability.  It  is  a  matter  in  which 
everything  would  depend  upon  the  nice  adjustment  of  details.  Mr.  Bellamy  re- 
cognizes what  some  of  our  local  advocates  of  Government  interference  with  in- 
dustry overlooked  when  he  says  that  **  the  state  organizad  exchange  would  need 
to  be  kept  distinct  from  the  outside  market,  substantially  completing  within  it- 
self the  circle  of  production  and  consumption."  Public  factories  competing  with 
private  enterprises  in  the  market  would  immeasurably  intensify  the  evils  they 
would  be  meant  to  relieve.  We  would  like  to  see  a  detailed  and  practical  plan 
for  the  employment  of  idle  labor  through  State-aided  co-operation,  involving  no 
interferance  with  labor  already  employed  in  private  establishments.  It  would 
be  worth  studying. 


[K]    PARALLEL   HISTORY  OF  ENGLA.ND  AND   THE  UNITED  STATES. 
Showing  how  similar  causes  produced  similar  results. 
The  history  of  the  United  States  since  the  rebellion  has  been  a  repetition  of 
what  took  place  in  England  after  the  last  Anglo-French  war. 

SUMMARY   OF   BOTH. 

I.  War  declared. 

II.  Hard  money  proved  insufficient  to  carry  on  the  struggle. 

III.  Paper  money  resorted  to.    The  people  prospered  in  spite  of  the  war. 

IV.  Paper  money  abused  and  depreciated  by  greedy  capitalists. 

V.  War  closed. 

VI.  Silver  practically  demonetized.     Distress  followed. 

VH.    Resumption  Act  passed.    Depreciated  paper  money  bought  in  cheap 
by  bankers.     Then  sold  to  government  for  bonds  at  face  value  and  destroyed. 
Prosperity  of  people  declined  tremendously.  Paupers  and  millionaires  multiplied 
^  J  together. 


BiREAKEIlS  AHEAJO.  n 


So  far  there  is  a  parallel.  But  in  this  country  the  process  has  not  yet  been 
completed. 

In  England  the  people  recovered  to  a  great  extent  when  the  discovery  of  ex- 
tensive gold  fields  increased  the  amount  of  money. 

In  the  United  States  the  people  will  recover  as  soon  as  the  amount  of  money 
is  sufficiently  increased,  and  not  before. 

There  is  also  a  parallel  with  regard  to  protection  and  navigation  laws. 
England  bought  her  experience  at  a  great  cost,  and  America,  too  proud  to  profit 
by  that  experience,  is  laying  in  huge  chunks  of  it  for  future  consumption. 


[L]    NEW  ZEALAND'S  EXPERIMENT. 
The  following  is  an  editorial  which  appeared  in  the  Chicago  Tribune  of  April 
10,  1894. 

"The  eyes  of  practical  minded  social  reformers  have  for  the  last  two  years 
been  fixed  upon  New  Zealand,  that  modern  little  Australian  colony  where 
advanced  theories  of  sociology  and  political  economy  have  been  put  to  experi- 
mental test.  In  the  current  number  of  the  Outlook,  Mr.  A.  0.  Fradenburg 
outlines  the  course  of  these  experiments  and  sums  up  the  results  achieved  in  the 
most  imporfant.  His  article  is  quite  comprehensive  and  his  conclusions  are  of  a 
nature  to  attract  the  earnest  attention  of  every  thinking  man  and  to  awaken 
enthusiasm  in  the  mind  of  the  student  who  has  attempted  the  solution  of  many 
existing  problems  along  the  lines  of  state  socialism,  or  "new  liberalism,"  as  they 
term  it  in  New  Zealand. 

"In  New  Zealand  state  activity  has  resulted  in  the  Government  assuming 
many  other  functions  besides  that  of  mere  governing,  Tae  state  controls  rail- 
roads, telegraphs,  telephones,  mails,  roads,  irrigation  and  other  public  works 
which  involve  the  management  of  natural  monopolies,  and  by  reason  of  its 
superior  credit  and  resources  has  been  able  to  precede  and  lead  in  civilization 
with  these,  instead  of  following  at  a  conservative  distance,  as  is  the  case  where- 
ever  theHe  industries  are  in  private  hands.  Up  to  March  of  1893  the  Government 
of  New  Zealand  had  expended  over  £20,000  000  or  $130,000,000  on  railroads  and 
other  public  works  under  this  policy  of  clearing  the  way  for  civilization  and 
immig'ation.  Some  of  the  railroads  it  built,  others  built  by  private  parties  it 
purchased.  In  1872,  when  the  policy  went  into  effect,  there  were  only  sixty-five 
miles  of  railroad  in  the  colony.  Last  year  there  were  1,886  miles  under  Govern- 
ment control,  and  only  150  miles  still  owned  and  operated  by  private  corpora- 
tions. In  1892  the  earnings  of  these  state  railroads  were  $5,900,000,  and  the  net 
earning  over  all  expenses,  $2  249.150.  Telegraphs,  mails  and  water  works  have 
likewise  yielded  encouraging  profits,  the  gross  income  of  tue  two  first  named, 
which  are  operated  toi?ether,  being  $1,498,325.  Telephones,  over  which  the 
Government  but  recently  assumed  control,  paid  into  the  treasury  during  the 
same  year,  $95,775,  a  good  proportion  of  which  was  in  excess  of  fixed  and 
operating  charges.  And  this,  too,  in  a  new  country,  a  colony  far  removed  from 
older  civilization,  a  small  countrv containing  altogether  less  than  700,000  people! 

"Had  the  people  of  New  Zealand  stopped  at  this  point  they  would  still  have 
led  the  world  in  the  rational  solution  of  vexing  social  problems.  But  they  did 
not  stop.  The  Governaaent  has  assumed  control  of  native  lauds,  opened  them 
up,  and  will  either  lease,  rent  or  sell  outright  to  a  settler  on  easy  terms  whatever 
ground  be  may  require,  or  if  he  have  no  money  will  advance  him  a  suffiiJient 
sum  to  make  his  first  payments  and  to  begin  his  improvements.  The  system  of 
land  tenure  and  taxation  is  a  modified  application  of  the  principles  expounded 
by  Henry  George.  Most  of  the  ground  is  leased  in  perpetuity  or  rented  out  by 
the  state  at  an  annual  rate  varying  from  4  to  5  per  cent  of  its  cash  value.  Land 
owned  by  individuals  is  taxed  at  a  low  figure,  providing  it  doas  not  exceed  in 
value  .$25,000.  On  all  property  over  that  amount  in  value  a  special  graded  tax 
is  assessed,  which  increases  with  the  increase  in  size  and  value  of  the  estate, 
becoming  almost  prohibitive  when  that  value  gets  beyond  $150,000.  it  is  tne 
settled  policy  of  the  New  Zealand  Government  to  prevent  the  acquisition  oi  a 


7^  BREAKERS  AHEAD. 


great  tract  of  land  by  any  individual  or  corporation.  If  however,  any  victim  of 
this  policy  thinks  his  taxes  are  too  high  the  state  always  stands  ready  to  pur- 
chase his  property.  Small  holders  hava  scarcely  any  tax  to  pay  on  their  la  ad, 
and  none  whatever  on  improvements.  The  state  also  acts  as  trustee,  adminittera 
estates  at  the  actual  coat  of  administration,  and  runs  \  free  public  employment 
bureau,  with  branches  in  every  town,  where  the  mutual  requirements  of 
employers  and  employes  all  over  the  colony  may  be  ascertained. 

"These  are  not  all  the  social  experiments  which  have  baen  tried  in  New 
Zealand.  They  are  but  a  few  of  many,  and  all  have  thus  far  been  attended  with 
most  gratifying  success.  When  the  recent  financial  panic  devastated  the  whole 
of  Australia  and  the  Australasian  colonies,  extending  in  its  effects  even  to  the 
Sandwich  Islands  and  California,  New  Zealand  alone  of  them  all  escaped  the 
Bcourge.  Her  commerce  was  not  impaired,  her  banks  remained  solid,  her 
values  were  undisturbed.  Call  it,  then  advanced  liberalism,  state  socialism, 
what  you  like,  the  fact  remains  that  state  activity  and  state  performance  of 
many  functions  hitherto  left  to  individuals  has  proven  an  unqualified  success  in 
New  Zealand.  And  if  in  New  Zealand,  why  not  elsewhere?  Why  not  In 
America?" 


I 

I  '*A  Just   Weight  and  Balance  Are  the    I<ord's/'  I 


iM. 


r-'RcspHRirr 
FOR   ALL 


Taritf  for 

No  TPJJSTS:W,Mg/V0POLI fS . 


i 


Gqop.  Prices 


/^/GHV\^AGis,  f\/Vo  'Rich 
No         '  ^ 


No  Pi 


'QOn. 


HlentY   Of   ruLL 

L£GAL    TC^riEfJ     MQ/^CY. 


60NDITI0NS  NE6ESSARY  FOR  PROSPERITY. 


i 

i 

i  'A 

1    A  FALSI  BMkNCt    IS   AN 
4    f^BCm NATION   urjro 
m^loHD"         ,       _ 

l\BA^vkKUFrcY,  M 

5LAV£S.  '    /    \SrARVATIOA/p 

Paupers  J    \  >.    ^^^^^^^g 

L/v\PTY        ^ 

.  _  • /5.'^'l^.::^^     pockets:'^ 

\  Thieves. 


Bankers. 


LL I  ON  Amis,  i 


fLmlhoab 

KiNOrS. 


TRANWS.   I\SlLV£fi\     .       poryrrcK^'^       <. 

co.^j\        '^^^'^^^^•^      A    UDLLAR    or  A    HIG.^ 


\ 


I 


PURCHASlNGr     POWER' 


i     ^  Bed-rock 

^  CONDIT!OiN[5  L.EADIMG  TO  DISASTER. 


%'"'V" 


mnjpimipiminpnwipTn  »)^^ 


PH^jPBMUllr 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 

or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
BIdg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

•  2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 
(510)642-6753 

•  1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing 
books  to  NRLF 

•  Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made 
4  days  prior  to  due  date 


DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


SENT  ON  ILL 

FEB  1  4  2005 

U.C.  BERKELEY 

DD20   1M  3-02 


YC  15268 


